Too young to be kissing a cylon
by Serenechemnerd
Summary: Completely AU. The worlds don't end when they should and Kara is captain of a pirate ship. Her travels lead her to him and the rest is fate... Meant for a mature audience swearing and adult content .
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights; I just play in their world. Not meant to infringe.

Universe: Kara Thrace isn't in the military and the worlds haven't ended, and yet she still meets him.

Kara walked into her favorite dive bar on Picon, without so much as a smirk on her face. Her last delivery had taken the wind out of her sails a bit. She had almost gotten her crew into a bind they wouldn't get out of alive. She sighed heavily as she sat at the bar. This didn't used to happen to her, but now she was a ship captain, not just some hotshot pilot on a battlestar.

It'd been a year since Zak's death and her court marshal. She couldn't find enough courage to behave, knowing that she had killed someone she loved. She sighed again. The military had been her life, and now that life was over. She'd coped by joining a "shipping team" (read pirates) and that had been enough to distract her for a while but she grew into the role of captain as the last one was shot a few months back, and now she had more responsibility that she would ever want.

The bartender wandered over to get her drink. He was new, she thought, when she looked up into his eyes. His eyes were like ice, until he added a smile and asked what she would like. She frowned, usually no one at Joey's bar smiled, just wasn't the smiling type of place. She asked for some ambrosia, knowing she shouldn't. His smile widens as he sets down her glass and walks away to help another customer.

A while later, most of the bar has cleared out leaving the new bar tender with little to do but converse with Kara. He moves down the bar, "Hi." He says friendly. She looks at him sideways. "Are you always this full of life?"

"Are you always this friendly?" She says vehemently.

"Basically." He smiles. It infuriates her, although most things do on most days so that's not new. "What are you in town for?"

"That obvious, huh?"

"Not really, but I like to study people. That's why I accept jobs like this." He leaned on the counter some more. "Let me guess?"

"Sure bud, whatever floats your boat, as long as the stiff drinks keep coming." She nodded down into her fifth glass. He was sure she would be on the floor soon.

"Caprica. Born and raised." He smiled as she seemed to twitch; he knew he'd gotten it right.

"You know, Joey doesn't usually hire such talkative employees, tends to annoy the customers."

"Maybe I only annoy the beautiful women," he paused looking around the darkened room, "And as you can see the crowds a bit thin on beautiful women."

"Wow, what a line." He just laughs and moves to get something from the back. When he gets back Kara is studying him intently. Before now she hadn't really noticed anything except his cool stare, but from far away his sandy hair looks nice, and she definitely didn't miss when he bent over to pick up a case of something to bring to the front. The night wears on and Kara asks if Joey is around.

"He'll be back in a while." The bar tender comments putting down her seventh drink. Now she is the only customer. He moves to her side of the bar and sits next to her. "So what are you drowning?"

"Excuse me?" She looks at him sidelong.

"Well, we're doing a pretty good job of getting that bottle into you so I was just wondering what you were drowning?"

"Not what, who."

"Alright I'll play. Who are you drowning?"

"Myself."

"This I can see, but why is the more important question?"

"Gods you are the nosiest bar tender I've ever met."

"You should meet the rest of my family, you're getting off easy."

"Well then I guess I should count my lucky stars." Kara commented sarcastically. He laughed.

"You need to loosen up."

"That's what the liquor is for."

"Well obviously you're not a light weight." He reached over and grabbed the bottle.

"So new bartender man, you have a name?"

"Why, you planning on ever talking to me again?"

"Maybe." She said.

"Leoben." He reached his hand out and she took it getting a vague sense of déjà vu.

"Kara." She said. "You're obviously not from Picon either. In fact I get the feeling that you've never called one colony home for very long."

"Guilty." He said pouring her more to drink and getting his own.

"So what do you do that allows you to move around like that?"

"You're looking at it."

"What, bartending?"

"Naw." He laughed and took a sip of his drink. "I can talk. I can mediate; I even have a license to listen on some of the colonies."

"Wow, I'm getting my head shrunk by my bartender at 11 at night. Where is Joey by the way?"

"Dunno, should have been here by now. Why?"

"Oh, I need a night away from my crew and he usually sets me up upstairs."

"Ah, you're _that_ Kara." He pours her more, not really paying attention to his drink any more.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She tosses the shot back in one quick motion instead of nursing the drink. He watches as her short blond hair falls into her eyes and she bats it away, annoyed. He laughs again.

"You really are some kind of woman." He says softly. When she looks like she's going to deck him he holds both his hands up. "Whoa, whoa. Joey said that you were the only woman he'd ever met who could hold her own in a group of men."

Kara thought about that for a while then grinned.

"I do throw a mean punch." He smiled at her as her whole face lit up. "And I obviously can hold my own."

"What made you so independent?"

"Oh here we go. My head shrinking."

"Ha-ha, well I didn't really mean it like that but I guess it's ingrained in me. Almost like breathing." He waited for her to respond to his question.

"What?" She asked getting irritated at his looks.

"Just waiting."

"For what?"

"For you to answer my question."

"What question?"

"The one that's making you so irritated."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I can guess." He said.

"Great. Just what I wanted with my drink."

"You were a lonely child, just like a lot of children but you didn't have any siblings. One or both of your parents left you early in your life and the other blamed you." He paused more to take in her reaction more than for effect. "You don't look back, you don't surrender unless you were going to anyways and you've figured you'd frak up everyone's life you come in contact with."

"Anything else?" She is grinning at him now, trying to hide her reaction under her bravado. He leaned in very close and whispered in her ear, causing his lips to brush against her ear "You frak like a goddess." He quickly moved out of arms reach and grins broadly as she tries to stay composed. She knows she can't contain it with this much alcohol in her.

"You'll never know." She says and she looks back as the bar door squeals open. Joey stands in the door way looking at his newest employee and his angel.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter is a little longer and much more M rated for sexual content. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I just play in their word for a while.

Hours later Joey is perched on the spare bed he keeps upstairs. Kara is standing at the sink brushing her teeth. It's been a while since she's been to Picon and although Joey is known for his reputation, he's realized that he missed having Kara around.

"I know that look." She said after rinsing her mouth out.

"What?"

"That look that says you'll die without me."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say."

"Well just in case, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"What, can't a friend miss his friend?"

"Not a friend he's frakked on and off."

"You are a raging bitch some times, do you know that?" Joey got up and headed towards the door. He slammed the door behind him.

"I guess we're off again." She shrugged at herself in the mirror.

As she was drifting off to sleep on the dingy mattress above the bar, a pair of ice blue eyes momentarily popped into her thoughts.

She got up early the next morning and made her way out of the small room above the bar. She left some money for the room on the counter and walked out into the brilliant sunny morning and cursed, she'd left her shades in her room back on her cruiser.

Its months before Kara is on Picon again, and still those blue eyes haunt her thoughts. Usually a man doesn't get under her skin until they've frakked on every surface of a place. She sighed to herself as she left the Temptation's docking bay, knowing full well she was going to end up at Joey's bar. She made a few pit stops along the way, trying to convince herself that they were just eyes, and he was just a strange man in the bar, but she knew better. He'd known her without knowing her. It was unnerving and almost comforting. So she sighed heavily and angled her way towards the bad side of town.

The bar was hopping when she got there. It took some elbowing but she managed to get some room at the bar. She took her jacket off and looked around wondering if her crew had ended up here like they had other nights. They were taking 24 hour leave on Picon. She managed to get a drink after a few minutes from Max, the regular bartender. She turned her back to the bar to scope the place out. It was ladies night, which included more than 8 women for once. Kara had never seen that many people in Joey's bar.

Kara was into her third drink when she turned away from the crowd, finding it lacking for company. Dammit I don't want to end up alone tonight, she thought to herself. She shook her head and looked down the bar; not much better scenery than the rest of the room.

About 20 minutes later a hand crept around her waist. She sighed and turned to her assailant. The night was not looking up. Some older guy was leering at her and smiled of too much liquor.

"Did your friends dare you to do that?" She asked nicely, almost purring the words. He nodded and grinned down thinking she liked it. She didn't have the elbow room to punch him so she did the next best thing; she grabbed him by the balls. He dropped his drink onto the bar and ended up on his knees. "Tell your friends I am not a dare." She pushed his shoulder and he fell over and tried to crawl away as unfriendly feet kicked at the man. She quickly returned to her drink noticing the men of the establishment moving away from her. She smiled darkly to herself; now she really was going back to Temptation by herself.

Two drinks later two arms came up on either side of her and someone pressed the length of their body against her back. What the frak, she thought as she put her drink down and spun to face the person. And suddenly she was staring into the ice blue eyes she'd been haunted by for months. She tried to push him away, but he didn't budge.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked, smiling up at him. He smiled wickedly at her comment. She pushed at him again. "Don't make me move you." She threatened.

"I'll move…for a kiss." He was taunting her now. Daring her was like playing with a lion's tail, dangerous and thrilling. He stepped into her personal space even more, knowing with her personality that secretly she liked the other person to take some control.

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm making you uncomfortable and because you still know my name."

"How do you know that? I meet hundreds of people a month. I can barely remember my name, what makes you think I remember yours?" Her confidence was wavering and they both knew it.

"Remember I can read you like an open book. If you didn't remember my name, I'd be on the floor holding myself by now." He saw the recognition in her eyes and then they narrowed at him.

"Did you dare that man to do that?" He chuckled.

"No. But it gave me this idea."

"What idea is that?" He was slowly inching towards her and she was running out of space. Her breathing had changed slightly, ever so slightly and he could see her pulse jumping against the pale skin of her neck.

"To come steal something from you." He leaned into her and placed his lips on hers, not moving them but simply a brush, a taste. He had been haunted by her eyes, her lips, her hair, her smell for the past few months. He was surprised she returned the kiss feverishly and he stupidly moved his arms to wrap around her, as if he knew her. He opened his mouth a bit to explore hers more and that's when the pain came.

He drew back and touched a finger to his bottom lip. His fingers were bright red as he looked down at the blond he still have one around encircled around. He smiled as if she had told him a good joke, and she knew she was in trouble. She could see the passion behind the eyes that matched hers. Some people called it 'crazy' but if she listened to everything everyone said about her, she'd never get out of bed in the morning.

"Are you going to get out of my space now?" She asks as if she's commenting on the weather. She grins up at him as he removes his arm and moves to lean on the bar next to her.

"So why are you here tonight, Kara Thrace?"

"How the hell did you find out my last name?"

"People talk." He ordered a drink. "More importantly, they talk about you."

"Believe every word." She says vehemently. He sticks a finger in his mouth again and shows her the blood.

"I won't doubt it ever again." He smiles at her and she looks at him as if he might be just a little more insane than she is. "How's business?" He asks sipping his drink, and he winces a bit at the alcohol passes by the new wound.

"I just bit you and you want to talk about how my business is?" She looks smugly at him with one eyebrow up.

"Yes." He gives her a one word answer as he looks directly at her. The silence between them is somewhat drowned out by the rest of the bar, but its awkward nonetheless. After half an hour, Leoben orders two shots. "Maybe this will get you talking."

"Maybe this will burn that cut I just gave you." She accepts the shot of tequila and lime from the bartender.

"Here's to gods and goddesses." He salutes his glass and she clinks hers against his. The burn of cheap tequila makes them both sputter and laugh at each other as they both suck on the lime, which makes Kara's face pucker and Leoben laughs even harder.

Hours later, the bar has died down a bit for the night and Kara and Leoben are still sitting at a bar. She had finally given up on not talking to him, since that was her purpose of coming to the bar tonight. She told him of flying and some about Zak and about being court marshaled but not why. She told him about being a pirate and how she didn't feel equipped to lead her crew but how protective she felt of all of them.

He told her about growing up adopted in a large family. He told her about the winter pageant and the time he had played Apollo for the sun festival as the seasons began to change on Geminon. He told her about being a shrink and some of the horrible things he had to listen to, which drove him to seek counseling.

"So…" He said as there was a break in the conversations. "Are you staying here tonight?"

"Subtle." She giggles, oh gods she's drunk if she's giggling.

"I'd like to show you something but I doubt Joey will give you keys to the place to get back in."

"And by show me something, you mean what? Your pet hamster, your gun, your penis? That's a bit ambiguous." He laughed, harder than was necessary, realizing that in the process of getting Kara drunk, he had managed to get himself very drunk.

"It's a place on Picon where you can see the stars."

"I see the stars all the time."

"Well then, how about my pet hamster?"

"Shit, do you have a pet hamster?" She can't tell if he's joking now or not. She's almost leaning against him as the liquor starts to play games with gravity. He looks at her arm tucked under and around his. His blurry vision focused on the tattoo on her upper arm and distracted him.

"Naw, I don't have any pets." He smoothes a finger down her tattoo and smiles as she shivers. "What's this one mean?"

"Oh, um…" She looks sheepish. "It's the ancient symbol for male and female. It means that there is a balance out there we're all trying to complete. I know its pretty cheesy. Don't ever get drunk and get a tattoo."

"I'll keep that in mind." He says earnestly.

He slides off the barstool and opens his hand towards her. "Shall we?"

"Sure." She says smiling more to herself than him. "I don' think Joey would let me stay here tonight anyways. I pissed him off last time I was here." They walk the streets to his apartment silently.

As he opened the security door, her hands are on him demanding a response. She pushes him up against the wall. She bruises her lips against his as she tries to crawl inside him. His hands come up to her face and keep her there as she tries to move further into the building.

They blindly find the fourth floor and crash into his apartment, Kara toeing the door closed behind her. He pushes her against the hall wall and moves a hand up to her neck. His fingers possessively move from under her chin, down her neck and dance across her collarbone.

Her hands move under the back of his shirt, feeling the tight muscles move as he moves against her. Her nails bite into his back drawing lines down his skin. She moves her hands out from the warmth of his back and eases the jacket off of him. He mimics her and removes her jacket. He pulls his lips away from hers and burns a pathway from her cheek down to the swell of her breasts. She gasps as his tongue flicks down her top.

She runs her fingers threw his hair and pulls his head back so she can look into his eyes. He smiles crazily at her and she releases his hair. He buries his head in the warmth of her neck. Her hair is just long enough to tickle his forehead. He breaths her in before biting down on her shoulder. She gasps. Seems she set the mood of the night when she'd bit him in the bar.

He moves his body into close contact with hers and she can feel his erection threw both of their clothes. She gasps at that touch as it has been a while, since she'd felt a man between her thighs. She smiles at the thought and allows her hands to run all over his muscled body. She leans forward and bites his shoulder threw his shirt. He growls slightly as she doesn't let go but doesn't do much more than put pressure on the point.

He reaches between them and places a hand between her thighs and kisses his way back to her mouth. His breathing has become labored as his hand moves across her. She is writhing, even with clothes still on. Her hands reach down and pull his shirt up and he assists her, annoyed at the material and having to stop kissing her briefly. His hands tangle in her hair as he possesses her mouth again.

She's drowning in the scent and feel of him. Her hands wander the plane of his chest as his tongue penetrates her warm mouth and explores her thoroughly. His hands move down the front of her body and grasp the hem of her shirt. He breaks away long enough to pull it up and over her head. He pauses for a moment to look into her eyes. She grins up at him and he is on her again. Hands roaming, mouth demanding. His hands move around to her back as he pulls her away from the wall. They move through the hallway, only to stop short of any of the other rooms.

She presses him up against the wall and captures his mouth again. It's not enough; the angle isn't as good for either of them. He pushes her back until her back is against the wall again. His hands move down her back and rest on her ass. She lifts one of her legs and wraps it around him. His body moves to occupy the new space she's made, while sucking on her neck. He smiles as he hears her ragged breathing hitch as his erection comes in contact with her. He rubs himself against her.

She reaches between them and undoes his pants, while he fumbles with hers. He puts her leg down and kneels down to pull her pants off. He kisses her stomach and moves his fingers to dance around the edge of her underwear. Her hands beat him to pulling them down and he pulls them off of her quickly and greedily. He smoothes his hands up her thighs but instead of moving between them, moves them out and around to cup her ass. She moves her legs a little apart as his fingers curve around the back of her thigh and reach her moist core. He presses his face to her stomach as his fingers stroke a fire between her legs.

He moves so his face is even with her core. At first he just breathes on her, knowing that the closeness of his mouth and the sure stroking of his fingers is driving her to sigh repeatedly. She moves her legs even further apart and his mouth is on her. The angle is awkward but his tongue moves between her folds, finding the bundle of nerves each time and stroking it.

Her hands move to tangle in his hair and when he looks up the length of her body her head is rolled back and her mouth is open.

"Don't stop." She moans noticing he has become distracted. He stands up in one fluid motion and picks her up, drags her to his couch. He balances her on the arm of the couch and kneels down to attack her again. The angle is better this time. His mouth makes sure strokes across her nerves and she moans. His hands move down her legs, away from where she wants them, driving her mad. Finally, his hands begin to move back up her legs. She arches back against the pillows on the couch enjoying all of the sensations.

His deft fingers trace the lips of her slick opening. Just as he moves two fingers inside of her, he sucks on the bundle of nerves making her back arch and she lets out an even louder moan. He smiles wickedly to himself, knowing his neighbors are probably getting a very good show and not caring in the least. His fingers move quickly in and out of her welcoming body. He can feel her walls begin to shiver as he increases the speed of his hand and his tongue. After a few more quick thrusts he can feel, and hear, her orgasm take hold of her. He moves his hand away and moves his mouth down to kiss her opening. His tongue slides inside of her as she comes and he tastes her knowing he'll never get enough.

When she stops whimpering, Leoben slides up her body as his hands move to finish removing his pants. She sits up with her eyes a little unfocused and helps him remove his pants and underwear. Her hands move to encircle him as the last of the clothes are removed. She wants to return the favor but he has other ideas. She has no idea where he's produced a condom from but she gets the picture that he needs to be buried in her warmth now. He bends down to kiss her as he moves her along the arm of the couch. He thrusts into her in one sure motion and her gasp is eaten up by his demanding mouth. She can taste the tang of herself on his lips. He moves his hips a few times, holding her hips down on the couch arm. The arm is too narrow, for him to get the thrust they're both wanting.

He gathers her up in his arms, she clings to him with her legs and he moves her back against the wall. The position is awkward at first until they catch a rhythm with one another. Her hips move to take every thrust as far as she can. He can feel her walls shivering and dancing from his previous administrations and knows she'll tighten around him soon, sucking his ability to take his time with her. His mouth falls away from hers as his breathing becomes labored. Her hands move up his back and tangle in his hair briefly before cutting their way back down his back. She's moaning loudly as he continues to thrust into her warmth. Her orgasm hits both of them unexpectedly. He quickens his pace as she clamps down around him. He growls as he comes, pumping himself inside of her.

His arm slides completely around her waist as his legs nearly collapse beneath them. Her arms slide around his neck as she presses herself against him, not wanting the contact to stop yet. He shivers as her insides are still quivering a little and pulls back enough to look into her eyes.

"You're going to be the death of me." He comments as they extract themselves from one another.

"Bathroom?" She asks. He points down the hallway. In a few moments he hears the water for the shower going. Not bothering to get dressed he finds something to eat and joins her in the bathroom. She's leaning against the sink looking at herself with a confused expression on her face. He doesn't push since he's already told him about her dead lover; he just moves behind her and wraps an arm around her shoulders. She looks at him in the mirror. She moves out of his grasp and steps into the shower. He brushes his teeth before joining her in the shower, giving her time to settle down a bit.

He stands almost in the spray and once again wraps his arms around her. She sighs and leans back against him, the shampoo in her hair running down the front of his body. He moves his fingers through her hair and messages her scalp. She almost falls over when he removes his hands and he laughs. He moves into the spray of the shower and pulls her tightly against him. After a few minutes Kara turns to face Leoben. She leans up and kisses him slowly at first but her hand on the back of his neck demands more of his mouth. He opens to her, feeling the kiss growing into something more passionate than that initial joining of lips.

After a few maddening moments they break away. Kara steps out of the shower and he follows her. She dries off and heads towards the bedroom. He takes his time shutting everything down in his apartment and isn't surprised to find Kara snoring softly on top of the covers when he goes to bed. He moves her, then passes out himself.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to these characters, I just play in their world.

The next morning Leoben wakes before Kara. He has a wicked hang over and decides Kara probably will too, so he leaves her sleeping form, he grabs a pair of sweats and wanders out into his living room. He looks at the clock and swears. He's supposed to be at work in a few hours. He calls Joey up and tells him he's been getting sick all night and he can't seem to drag his ass out of the bathroom. Joey, knowing Kara is in town, snorts and lets Leoben off the hook.

He turns the news on and watches the weather before turning off the noise and light. He grasps his head and realizes he needs water. He moves to the kitchen, making coffee and starting to make some breakfast.

He swears as the bacon pops and grease flies onto his chest. He turns down the burner and moves to the closet for his sweat shirt. He zips it up and relaxes, no more exposed skin for the bacon to attack. Kara sneaks up quietly behind him and moves her arms around him.

"Who said you could put clothes on?" She whispers.

"The bacon did." He smiles and removes the bacon from the burner. He turns to find her stark naked still.

"Well I will have to punish the bacon," She unzips the sweat shirt and pulls him with her towards the bedroom, "But only after." She purrs.

Kara is sitting on the command deck, going over the "pick-ups" for the day. Not a bad haul for deep space. She smiles and her crew moves uneasily knowing that smile usually means there's going to be hell to pay.

"Hammer, how are we coming on those coordinates?" She looks at her helmsman. The petite red head looks surprised.

"Fine Starbuck. ETA half an hour."

"Good good." She moved her gun at her side, knowing she should go get her bigger one. Bigger is better when you're trying to intimidate.

Twenty minutes later in the docking bay Hammer's voice came over the comm. "They're fighting sir." There is a metallic slam. "Hard lock, pressure good."

Kara is the leader so she goes first brandishing both her pistols and a gas mask; she's flanked by Copper and Floyd the big boys of the crew. They find their way to the command deck of the other ship.

"What do you want?" Their captain asks.

"What do you think we want?" Floyd releases the gas. The crew looks shocked and Kara smiles to herself concealed behind the mask. Some crews actually would put up a fight, but it didn't look as if this crew would even know which end of a pistol to use. Kara snorts and heads back to Temptation to get the rest of the crew.

The crew scrambles to unload the shipment from the ship. It's a shipment of Picon ale to be delivered to Caprica. Kara's buyers want it on Arelon. Wherever, whenever, she thinks to herself. Kara follows the crew back onto the ship and helps unload the shipment. By the end the gas has dissipated and Kara and her crew are sweaty and exhausted from moving the large barrels. They get about half the shipment before the gas should start wearing off. They pack up the equipment and head back to Temptation.

Kara returns to the command deck and they set forth towards Arelon. After the comm. Officer changes their transponder signal, and they're in the clear, Kara goes to her office to catch up on her ledger. The books have been balanced for weeks now. Kara sighs as she tries to think of other ways to distract herself. She's been restless for a while now. No not a while, since Picon. She knows better than to think of him. She strips down and prepares to go run on the treadmill.

On Picon Leoben violently pushes his Principles of Psychology away from himself after only a few hours of studying. He can feel the emptiness she's caused. He's never felt like this; like part of him is missing when she is away. It's only a week now until he moves back to Caprica. He's left an address with Joey but he suspects Kara won't get the message and its driving him mad.

He gets up and paces his apartment. She left him nothing to contact her with. No ship name, no transceiver codes, no address. Although he did find her "home" address on Caprica, it's a post office box. He sent a letter there anyways.

He sighed to himself and returns to studying Caprican law on doctor patient confidentiality and prescription of meds.

It's a full two months before Kara can set foot on Picon. Her travels and deals have taken her to every other frakking colony in the Twelve Colonies but not Picon. She saunters into Joey's bar at 3 pm and finds it nearly empty. She moves to the bar and asks the bartender about Leoben. He silently hands her an envelop. She looks at him puzzled and tears open the small note.

_Kara,_

_My goddess. _

_I have moved back to Caprica to accept a psychiatrist job. Come see me when you get a chance. My skin burns for yours._

_Leoben_

There is an address at the bottom of the note. She thanks the man behind the counter and moves out of the bar. Damn, she thought. He really did get to her, because she knew she was going to seek him out on Caprica. She wasn't finished with him, not by half.

It took another few weeks before there was enough time to take leave on Caprica. The crew loved Caprica and were glad their down time wouldn't beenbe spent on Picon like the captain had originally told them. They even had three days of leave while the ship was being overhauled.

"Don't forget dinner two nights from now at my house. I'm even planning to cook." She said to her crew. It was tradition on a planet where the crew held residence to have the crew over for drinks and real food. Usually it ended when the cards came out and Kara took everyone's liquor and money.

Kara caught a cab to her place. It was musty smelling but it was home. She put her bag down and head towards the shower. It was almost an hour before she stepped out from under the hot spray. She got ready to go back out into the world, knowing exactly where she was going next. She opened her closet and picked out something that didn't smell of engine grease or blood or sweat. The shirt was soft as were the dark blue pants. She even put make-up on. Feeling like she was going out on the town Kara caught another cab into the heart of the city. She had an appointment.

She found the building with ease. Taking the elevator to the twenty sixth floor she stepped off the first door had a plaque that said L. Conoy MD, she entered and signed in. After a few moments the receptionist showed her to a room with a desk and two chairs facing the desk.

"The doctor will be right with you." She smiles nicely at Kara and exits. Kara sits smiling to herself. She hears the door open and notices he's not looking at her as he enters the room.

"Well Ms. Timol, how can I…" His voice dies as he looks up from the chart he's holding. He shuts the door behind him. She smiles at him. He's wearing glasses, which make him look more professional in her eyes. "You came." He breathed leaning against the door and smiling almost afraid to move. Afraid she'll just be a day dream.

But she's not. She comes up to him and moves her hand to cup his cheek then move down his neck to rest on his chest. "Miss me?" She asks leaning in and kissing him. He wraps both arms around her and lefts her clean off the floor.

"Yes." He says softly as he breaks away from their kiss. He sets her down and moves his forehead to rest against hers. "I'm surprised Joey gave you the note."

"Max did actually."

"Good." He cleared his throat and moved away from her. "Well _Ms. Timol_, I can't ask you this but I can ask your alter ego Kara Thrace this: will you have dinner with me tonight?"

She hesitates. "Sure." She says a bit puzzled.

"Uh-oh that is not a happy look." He comments sitting down behind his desk. "What's wrong with going to dinner with me?"

"Nothing, just thinking to myself that I haven't been on a real date for years."

"What's wrong with a real date?"

"Just wondering how you got to me." He grins at that comment and she frowns even harder.

"Trust me the feeling is mutual." She snorts in retort. "Seriously, I almost failed my licensure because I could barely concentrate to study enough to take the damn test." He finishes his antidote knowing he shouldn't have told her that. His suspicion that she would use the information to drive him to further distraction was confirmed at she grinned wickedly at him. She leaned forward and writes her home address down. Her shirt gapes open and he can see her lacey bra under the low cut tee shirt, he sighs and returns his gaze to her face.

"Pick you up at 8?" He asks leaning back.

"Sure."

"Can I ask you to do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"Wear your glasses for me tonight?" She asks.

"Sure thing." He says and smiles as he watcher her walk out the door.

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TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own, I just play in their world.

The rest of the day is a blur as Kara takes care of registration for the ship, scheduling the repair on the FTL, even if they never use it. She manages to go to the grocery store and is home in time to change her top into something a little more revealing.

The black shirt no longer matches the blue pants and thus Kara is forces to redress everything. She puts on a pair of red slacks and admires herself in the full length mirror when the phone goes off. Its Leoben, he's at the front door. She buzzes him up and moves to touch up her make-up. He knocks on the door softly. She sprints barefoot to the door, still not having a decision on shoes.

"Well don't you look spifftacular." She says opening the door for him to step into her place. He looks her up and down and smiles bringing her close to him for a kiss. "Hey you're supposed to wait for the end of the date." She flirts with him. The shirt she is wearing is open down to where her sternum ends. She had to tape the shirt to herself so it didn't fly away when she walks. He defiantly noticed the shirt and he brings two fingers up to trace lightly between her breasts. She shivers and moves away from him. "If you keep that up, we won't be making it to dinner."

"You should have thought about that before you put that shirt on. Are you trying to make yourself more distracting?"

"What do you think, oh head-shrinker man?" She calls out from her bedroom. "I just have to pick some shoes and then I'll be ready."

"Of course you're trying to distract me." He whispers to himself, knowing its going to be hard to get through dinner.

"Alright, I'm ready." She says grabbing her bag. She snorted softly at herself for being such a girl sometimes. The back of the shirt is just as appealing as the front of the shirt. As she slips an arm under his, his moves to the opening in the back of her shirt and his thumb plays with the soft skin exposed there. "So where are we going?"

"This little place just up the street." He remarks angling her down the sidewalk. The sidewalk is liked with large trees that are beginning to cast shadows on the city as they walk. There is a slight breeze and he realizes that she is going to freeze dressed like she is. "You're going to freeze." He notes.

"I live on a spaceship; I think I'll be fine but thanks for the concern." She laughs quietly to herself. "How's business?" She asks, not really knowing how to start a date.

"It's booming. Its amazing the amount of money people will pay you just to listen and nod."

"Wow, that's my type of job. Damn. I should go into that." She laughs knowing he does much more than that.

"You sure you could keep from punching your clients?" He teased her as they arrived at the restaurant.

"Wow that is close." She comments as he holds the door open for her. "You're just doing that so you can check out my ass aren't you?"

"What? No. I was trying to be polite."

"Well I'm not that kind of gal." He laughed at that comment.

"You're not like any kind of gal." He comments as they're seated.

"What made you come back to Caprica?" She asks over the initial drinks.

"I'm not sure." He looks at her and sighed. "It feels like home. I just felt like I was being called back here." He shrugged.

"Wow, for being a head shrinker you're not really up with explaining your own feelings are you?" She says almost accusatively.

"Admittedly I am much better at diagnosing other people's problems than I am my own."

"No kidding." She sips her drink and decides to move onto less uncomfortable topics. "This is your life then, huh?"

"Not completely. I can leave whenever I'd like but for now this is it. I feel like I'm doing some good here."

"Can I ask you something personal?"

"Sure."

"Why are you so comforting?" She leans across the table. "I haven't let my guard down like this for years."

"It's the voice." He jokes with her before answering her seriously. "It's a talent I've always had, but it seems to work both ways with us. Usually I feel detached about my patients but I feel embroiled and yet comforted just looking at you. It's almost like I've met you before."

"Maybe in another life?" She suggests.

"Maybe. I have no idea but I know exactly what you're talking about. It might help that I've already seen you naked." His eyes glinted at the possibility and she stuck her tongue out at him. The rest of dinner conversation fell back to anecdotes about their pasts.

"And one time in flight school I got caught frakking the second best pilot in the class in my viper. I was in hack for almost a week." She finished one of her raunchy school stories. He was laughing so hard tears sprang to his eyes. "Well, shall we head back?" She offered. She gets up from the table and moves outside to the sidewalk, noticing that he was right, it was a bit chilly out. She snakes an arm under his coat and pulls him close for the warmth.

"Are we going back to see your pet hamster?" He comments after a moment as they meander back towards her place.

"No." She says solemnly, "My penis." She cracks up at her own joke and he moves his hand along her side purposely tickling her for the comment. She smacks at his hands and he swings her around to face him and stops to plant a passionate kiss against her lips. She gasps as his hands move up and down her back.

"Alright then, let's go check out your penis then." He comments moving her back to his side so they can walk the short distant to her apartment.

They manage to make it inside the door of her apartment before she's on him. She slides her hands under the jacket and down his back, relishing the warmth of his back against her palms. He bends and captures her lips with this while his hands move to tangle in her hair. His tongue strokes her lips and it makes her pulse jump. He moves his mouth across her cheek and down her neck and leaves tiny little kisses down the opening of her shirt. She gasps and pulls his lips back to hers with his hair. He growls at the sensation and moves his hands over the front of her, trying to move his hands inside of her shirt.

"Ouch." She says pulling back.

"What?" He looks concerned.

"Tape." She gently pulls the tape way from her body and off of the shirt. He laughs.

"I've been wondering about that all night." He said moving his arms back around her. He attacks her with more passion, sliding the shirt off of her shoulders as he gathers her up in his arms. Her hands roam up his back feeling the heat he's giving off of his skin.

Before long they're naked in Kara's bed. She sits on top of him and slides herself along his shaft and watches his face as he writhes for her. His hands lock in hers as she leans forward to kiss him. She shifts her hands to grasp his wrists and he moans as she takes further control. She moves her hips up so the tip of him is poised to enter her, then moves back quickly pulling her lips off of his but keeping his arms locked in her grasp. He truly begins to struggle, to try to hold on to her as she rides him, but Kara's years of military training on restraint kick in and they battle one another as she moves her hips.

He over powers her towards the end as she is lost in the sensations of their bodies coming together. He sits up and grabs her hips and drives her down faster and faster, knowing they're both close. He presses her close and groans as she tightens around him.

He feels himself go as she wraps her arms around him. His back is hot to the touch; Kara dismisses it as a job well done.

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Hours later she leans against him in her bath tub, soaking in the feeling of having a man wrapped around her. He his rubbing her shoulders.

"If you could have three wishes, what would they be?" He asked.

"What are you a genie?"

"Maybe."

"Well let's see. I'd wish Zak were alive, for a house and a good bottle of whisky." He laughs at the last request.

"I think we can manage that last one."

"What would yours be?"

"My three wishes?" She nods, leaning her head back against him to look sideways at him. "Hum. I'd like a boat, to know my real parents, and to have a family."

"Wholly gods those are some tall orders. What makes you want a family?" She asks quietly as panic sets in. This might just be frakking but she didn't want him looking to her to fulfill those wishes.

"Dunno. I grew up in a large family. I thought it would be nice to have one of my own someday."

"You're the first guy I've ever met who has ever said anything like that to me." He laughs knowing he's making her nervous.

"Alright, I'll change that last wish." He says turning her around. She moves to straddle him hoping to distract him. He slides two fingers inside of her and she sighs knowing the water will be cold before they're finished.

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Kara woke up the next day to an empty bed. She rolled around luxuriating waking up in her own bed. There was a note on the pillow next to her. She picked it up groggily.

_Kara,_

_Had to go into work for a few hours. I will be back before noon._

_Leoben_

She smiled to herself remembering the many escapades from the night before. As she got out of bed she realized she was actually sore. She grinned even wider at that thought and went to make coffee before turning the shower on. After the shower she started the spaghetti sauce for dinner that night, it would take all day to make. She laughed at her domestic habits and went to watch some TV. After a few minutes she got bored and took her coffee out on her deck to sit in the early summer Caprican sun.

Meanwhile Leoben finished up at work and walked slowly down to catch a cab. He thought about bringing her flowers and decided that was far too cheesy. He laughed at himself for even thinking about it. He settled on getting a good bottle of whisky. He called up to her apartment around 10. His heart skipped when she answered the buzz. "Come on up." She said. This woman is going to be the end of me, he thought as he climbed the stairs. He had cancelled all but one appointment, which he'd taken care of that morning, for the next two days, hoping that she would have time to spend with him.

"Good morning." He says somewhat awkwardly as she opens the door.

"Morning." She says standing with the door open. "Well, in or out?" He holds up the bottle of whiskey. "In it is." She says grabbing him by the shirt.

"Wow something smells good." He comments sitting down at the counter as she stirs the sauce.

"Oh yeah. My crew is coming over for food tonight." She smiles as she tastes the sauce. "Frak, that's hot." She comments. "So what's the plan for the day?" She reaches over the sink and offers him some bread dipped in the sauce.

"I didn't really plan anything." He says taking the piece of bread from her. "What is this?"

"Tomato sauce." He takes a bite and nods his approval. "Well I don't need to check on the overhaul until tomorrow, so I was hoping to go to the park and just sit around. Maybe get a good book to read." She moves around the counter and he turns to stay facing her. She moves between his legs and leans into him. "Do you think we'll make it past the front door?" She asks almost brushing his lips with hers as she speaks. He smiles and moves a hand up to tangle in her short hair.

"Not a chance."

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TBC...

The three wishes thing is a shout out to my psychology roommate from college.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I just play here.

"Food, water." Kara says sitting up in bed, slightly damp from the last round with Leoben. She moves to the kitchen, not caring that she's naked. She returns to bed with water and a sandwich she'd bought at the store yesterday. She laughs realizing he's fallen asleep while she went to the kitchen. He wakes when she sits back down on the bed, wrapping himself around her body. She offers him some food and they share an oddly comfortable couple moment. Kara stops at that thought. Are they a couple? She looked down at him and realizes they were. She waits for the panic to set in and just continues to sit there somewhat stunned. She's even going to introduce him to her crew. What the frak is wrong with me? She thinks.

"What are you thinking about that's making you frown?"

"You."

"Wow that sounds ominous."

"Well more like "us". Waiting for the panic."

"Why would you panic?" He was drawing lazy circles across her thigh.

"It's what I do. I frak, then I leave. But I'm home and I don't really want you to leave and it's confusing me."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Besides becoming an asshole or stop being attractive, I don't think so."

"So is it the "us" part that scares you or the couple part?"

"I think it's the couple part."

"Well that's a good start. Why would being a couple be bad?"

"It means I can't frak anyone I want."

"You mean I'm not giving you enough attention?" He smiles fiercely and starts his fingers wandering closer and closer to her sensitive area.

"Touch that and die." She says smiling as she pushes his hand down her leg. "I can barely walk as it is."

"Well I don't know when you'll be back next, so I thought I'd make sure you didn't forget me."

"Haven't yet. Don't plan on it now." He sat up and wrapped his body around her back.

"Kara." He said softly into her ear. "It's ok to want someone, to need to be with someone."

"That's not how I operate. I'm not even sure what I see in you anyways." There it is, the panic finally set in. She welcomes it.

"Cute." He says pulling away from her. He gets up and pulls a pair of her sweat pants on and moves to sit in front of her on the bed. "You know what you see in me." She moves off the bed to put clothes on, much harder to use her body against her if she's dressed. She puts on her pants and sports bra. "Kara, come sit with me."

"No." She sighs knowing she's really being stubborn now. She sits on the chair in the corner of her room. He moves to face her. "So what do I see in you?" She breathes half hoping he gets it wrong and she can just throw him out. He smiles sweetly at her and her heart starts to hammer. Dammit, she thinks.

"There, right there is what you see in me. You react to me, to my presence, to my voice, to my hands, my lips; every pore of you reacts to me. Unfortunately your brain has gone and over thought the whole thing. You see in me, what you see in yourself. We all see ourselves in other people. Sometimes we choose to be jealous of the light or dark we see in others or turn the thoughts to fear to help cope with the fact that we're not ready to deal with that aspect of ourselves. What you see in me is a kindred spirit. Someone who knows you without really knowing you quite yet. You see the passion you feel for everything you encounter reflected in my eyes because I feel passionate about almost everything I come into contact with." He finishes. At some point Kara had unwrapped her arms from around her knees and was leaning towards him.

"Dammit." She swore softly. He smiled as she admitted more in that swear than anything she could have said or done to him.

"So, will you join me in the shower?" He looks at her hopefully. She smiles weakly as her eyes meet his.

"Sure. I should get ready for company."

"Oh I had forgotten. I can go shower at my place and come back tomorrow?" He looks sheepishly as he had monopolized her time when she had to prepare for company. She stood up and waited for him to stand up; she takes his hand and leads him to the shower.

"I want you to stay."

"You're serious?" He asks solemnly.

"Do I look like I'm frakking joking?" She's getting angry now.

"I would love to stay for dinner." He smiles and leans down to kiss her.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thirty minutes later

Leoben is moving around the kitchen helping set up for dinner. He rummages around in her kitchen drawers looking for a bottle opener. He finds a well worn deck of triad cards; he puts them in his pocket for later.

Kara meanwhile is deciding on what to wear. The shower relaxed her as did his hands and she smiles to herself, having forgotten the panic she'd felt a bit ago. She stands with her hands on her hips looking at her clothes. She doesn't feel like wearing anything but having streaked the crew on a dare after drinking too much with her XO, she decides nudity would be a bit too casual. Her eyes graze over the very back of the closet and an evil thought comes across her mind.

The phone rings. "Could you buzz them in?" She asks from the bedroom. He moves to the phone and buzzes in the guests. A knock comes to the door. Leoben goes to open it since Kara doesn't seem quite ready for company and it's mostly his fault, although the little episode in the shower had totally been her fault. He opens the door to find a very tall, jovial looking young man with his arm around a tall, innocent looking young lady. Leoben smiles at them as their smiles falter when Kara doesn't open the door.

"Do we have the right place?" The man asks.

"Depends on who you're looking for." Leoben looks amused.

"Kara Thrace." He states confident that she still lives here as his eyes move to the picture she'd painted the year after Zak had been killed. She had had it framed since then, the man thought to himself.

"Come on in Karl." Kara says walking out of her bedroom wearing a button-up jean dress and flip flops. As all three sets of eyes fall on her, both Leoben and Karl's fall open in astonishment. She snorts knowing they just had the same thought. _Kara's in a dress_.

"Starbuck." Karl says moving past the man he doesn't know, dragging his date with him. Leoben shuts the door and follows the reluctant couple.

"Helo." She moves the hug the tall man. "Karl this is Leoben." Karl moves from Kara to extend a hand to him.

"Good to meet you."

"Had you for a moment there didn't I?" Leoben said smiling.

"Well I don't think I've ever seen a man besides myself in this apartment." Karl says. Kara smacks him on the arm and moves around her kitchen. "Oh, sorry. This is Sharon. She's my raptor pilot." Kara moves back to shake the woman's hand. They grin at one another.

"Aren't there regs against that type of thing?" Kara teases Karl.

"Well, yeah. That's why she's my former raptor pilot." Karl retorts.

"They'd have to transfer you out of pilots for that."

"Indeed."

"No way. No frakking way!" She exclaims. "You did it? Didn't you?"

"You're looking at the newest commander in charge of ops."

"Nice." She moves to buzz more people in as they call her apartment. "I'm glad you got my message. I didn't know if you'd be around but I know how much you like my cooking." She says moving to the door to let more quests in.

Soon the place is buzzing with people. Most of her crew have brought their significant others or scrounged up a date for the night. Leoben moves from group to group talking to most of the crew. He observes how fluidly she moves around her crew, knowing who needs what and what is going on. That's what makes her a good leader, he thinks watching her. She cares about those around her, even if they're not quite aware of it. Leoben smiles and takes a sip of his wine as he feels someone next to him. He turns to find the gentle man Kara had introduced as Copper sitting next to him.

"So how'd you and Starbuck meet?" He asks seeming to lack any other topic to start on. Leoben looks at him a moment before he answers.

"On Picon, at Joey's Bar." He says. "I was the bartender there for a few months." Copper snaps his fingers.

"I knew you looked familiar. Why'd you leave man?" Copper looks down at his whiskey.

"Another job." He sips his wine and smiles at the rather imposing gentleman. "How did you end up meeting Kara?"

"I'm not sure I've ever met Kara. But I met Starbuck in a bar on Arelon. She had just picked a fight with two of the crew. Totally drunk, but looking for someone to punch." He laughed. "Well she punched a bunch of us all right. Nearly broke her hand on my jaw. When the captain finally came back with drinks, Floyd and Music Man were sporting oncoming shiners. He hired her right on the spot."

"What happened to him?"

"Who? The captain?" Leoben nodded, moving so he could look out into the room. "He got shot in a bar fight on Picon about half a year ago now. I think if he'd been a little more sober, he'd be here today. But he lived the life. He loved it. So do I."

"Who's the little lady you're with?"

"Oh, don't let her hear you say that. She has a temper."

"Well next to you, most people look small."

"Yeah but don't let her know it. That's Opal. She's a firecracker. Best piece of ass on Caprica." Leoben smiles knowing he's wrong.

"Will you excuse me; I think I need to help Kara." He nodded towards the blond fussing in the kitchen. Copper nodded and took off to find his fine piece of ass.

"You look like you might need help." He said as she was trying to pull something out of the oven. Her bare legs peaked out from her dress.

"Naw I got it." She lifted the bread from the oven. "Dinner." She sang out. He moves to her as she pulls the oven mitts off and places a very soft kiss on her lips. She pulls back a little to look up at him. Her crew cheers and hollers at them and they both turned a bit red realizing they had an audience. Puzzled, she leans up and brushes her lips against his briefly before dancing out of his grasp.

Dinner turned into an all out event as food and conversation were passed around. Kara was obviously adored by her crew. They began telling embarrassing stories about each other as Leoben and Copper and Hammer help clear the food away. After the food was put away and most of the dishes have been cleaned, the alcohol keeps flowing. Kara paces herself, knowing she could drink anyone at the table under it.

When there is a slight lull in the conversation, meaning it's not a roar any more, Leoben comes up behind Kara and smiles at her friends. "Who's up for a game of triad?" The table falls silent. He smiles knowing something is up.

"Have you ever seen Starbuck play cards?" Helo asks.

"He hasn't." She smirks to herself.

"Well?" He says sitting down next to her and placing the cards at her elbow.

"Anyone else brave enough?" She asks taking the cards out.

"I will." Sharon pipes up. Karl looks at his date suspiciously. "What? It's my money."

"I guess I'll play then." Karl says.

"Count us out." Copper says from the kitchen. "We've got a pyramid game to get to. It's just starting." He and his date say their good-byes. Hammer and her date decide to play and Floyd says he'll just watch, knowing full well how much he _already_ owes Starbuck.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hours later Leoben regrets his decision to play triad. He's lost every cubit on him and promised much more than money to her. Up until this point Leoben thought he had a pretty good read on Kara, now he was wondering just how much of a changeling she was. He pushed the thought out of his mind for a time when he was alone and not trying to get to know her friends.

Sharon was the only person to come out slightly ahead of the game. Karl threw in the towel hours before Leoben and Sharon. The two women seemed to like one another and tended to feed off one another's energy. Hammer and her date had left hours ago, losing their money early. Floyd stood out on the balcony looking over Caprica City and smoking with Helo.

"Well it seems we've worn out our welcome." Helo said coming back in with Floyd looking at Sharon's winnings.

"What do you mean?" Sharon asks.

"You may not have won a lot, but you still won. I'm just trying to make sure you're safe." He steered her towards the door. Floyd followed them out, leaving the new couple by themselves. He removes the few glasses left on the table as she packs up the cards.

"Thank-you." He said sitting back down with the bottle of whiskey.

"For what?" She asks taking the bottle from him.

"For letting me stay. It was nice to have dinner with such friendly people. It's been a while since I've been around that many people who seemed to appreciate one another."

"Ha, well that only goes so far when you're trapped on a boat for weeks at a time without real food or a real shower or much of any contact. There is a fair amount of yelling that makes things like this come off this healthy."

"Like any family."

"They are my family. They're all I have left." Realizing what that meant to her and to the whole "us" conundrum she drank her whole drink in one swallow.

"They're a good mix."

"Yeah they are."

"Copper amuses me. And, who was the little one? She has a mouth on her. I can't see you getting along with her."

"Moose. Yeah, she and I have had some issues. Luckily, she's tiny and never learned to use that so it's easier to bully her."

"Did I get a chance to tell you how beautiful you look tonight?" He says angling his body towards hers and placing a hand on her exposed knee.

"No you didn't." She says, waiting.

"You look beautiful tonight. Were you going for a shock factor with that dress?" She laughed at his point blank observation.

"Why yes I was. I figured why not? I can still kick all of their asses even in a dress." He stood up and offered a hand to her, which she took. He pulled her flush against him and traced his fingers across the exposed skin of her neck and down to where the first buttons of the dress started.

"Well you gave me something to think about all night." He said undoing the first button. She sighed.

"Oh yeah, and what would that be?" She moves her arms up his shoulders.

"The mystery of what is underneath the dress as you play hostess for your crew and me."

"Why don't you find out?" She suggests moving back a bit so he can use both of his hands on undressing her. His fingers move inside the dress undoing each button slowly, watching her reaction as his touch begins to get to her. As he feels the skin against his fingers before unbuttoning each button, he knows she's not wearing anything under the dress. He groans at the thought a leans down to kiss the smirk off her face.

He undoes the last buttons of the dress and slides both hands around her waist. He kisses her neck, and travels down to her breasts, taking each nipple in his mouth and sucking on them until she gasps. He moves his hands up, across her breasts and under the dress on her shoulders. She helps him remove the dress shrugging slightly as the garment comes free.

She reaches for his shirt where it's tucked into his dress slacks and pulls it out. Her fingers moves quickly to the buttons and soon his shirt joins her clothes on the floor. She pushes him towards the couch. He sits down as her hands push him down insistently. She straddles his lap and presses herself against him. He growls and tries to pull her lips towards his; she pulls back and moves to take his pants and underwear off. She kneels on the floor and runs her hands up his thighs. She moves her hands around to cup his ass and moves him forward so her face is much closer to his groin.

She grins up at him as his fingers tangle in her hair, getting the hint. She licks her tongue along the length of his shaft, which makes it jump. She smiles and does it again. Her hands are wandering up his chest and just about everywhere they can touch. She leans up at takes just the tip of him into her mouth. His sighs as his head falls back momentarily. He moves his head back so he can watch her. Her eyes look up at him as she takes him into her mouth again, one of her hands moving to complete the movement the rest of the way down his shaft. He groans. She starts moving faster, watching his reaction as she does. He tries not to move but finds it impossible as she moves her warm, wet mouth around him.

Soon she is taking more of him in her mouth as he gets closer to ecstasy. The feel of him in her mouth makes her want him more and she is tempted to stop and finish with him inside her but feels him start to come as she tries to move off of him. She stops moving along him and tries not to fight against the hot fluid filling her mouth. She swallows a few gulps before he finishes. She slowly moves her mouth up his shaft and grins at him as she stays kneeling between his thighs. He pants heavily and leans back on the couch, hands searching for hers to pull her up to him.

He leans his forehead against hers and breathes her in, his hand moving up her neck and into her hair. She smiles to herself as he looks completely spent. He moves his other arm to wrap around her waist. So this is what its like to worship a goddess, he thinks knowing he can never say something like that to Kara. She'd smack him good for something that romantic. He smiles and looks into her hazel eyes. He kisses her briefly and pulls back.

"You are one hell of a woman." He decides that quote from the first night they met might not get him slugged. He's wrong. He punches him in the arm and moves off of him.

"Well I'm going to go pass out. Care to join me?" She asks moving towards her room.

__________________________

TBC...


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning Kara is flying around her room getting dressed when Leoben wakes up. He watches her anxiously move around the room getting ready. She notices he's awake and sits on the edge of the bed to put her shoes on.

"Hey. I have to go check on the overhaul. I'll be back in a few hours. Would you like to have dinner with me again tonight?" She asks almost shyly.

"Absolutely."

"Alright then. I'll see you in a few." She doesn't kiss him before she leaves because she just doesn't think about him like that quite yet. He sighs and settles back into the bed.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Leoben goes back to his place after cleaning up after the party from the previous night. He moves around his apartment feeling lonely, missing her presents after only a few hours alone. He waits for Kara to come to him, since it was she who asked him to dinner.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kara returns to her apartment feeling greasy and grumpy. The repairs were going to cost much more than she had thought. Money always made her unhappy. As she looked around her apartment she noticed that Leoben had cleaned up before he'd left. There's also a note. It says to pick him up for their date at his place and gave the address. She grins and heads to take a shower.

She chose a t shirt and slacks for the date knowing the diner she was planning to take him to wasn't very high class. She would make him change if he showed up at his door in a three piece suit like he had a few nights ago. She liked a guy that could wear both but she preferred the t shirt look.

She shows up a little early and rings the door to the town home. She steps back and takes a look around. It's a nice place. He answers the door with his tooth brush in his mouth and his shirt not buttoned. She smiled at catching him off guard. He smiles around the tooth brush and leads her into his place. He finishes brushing his teeth in the little hallway bathroom.

"I didn't expect you so soon." He comments moving his hands to his shirt. She stops his hands and he looks at her quizzically.

"We're not going any place fancy."

"You just don't want me to look prettier than you." He comments leaving the shirt unbuttoned. She snorts.

"As if you could." She laugha as he tries to look hurt. "So would you show me around? It looked impressive from the outside."

"Sure." He says grabbing her hand and dragging her further in. "This is the formal sitting room; I've never used it really." He moves further down the hall and the kitchen opens up into the back of the rest of the place. There is a set of stairs and he leads her up them.

"How many stories is this?"

"Four." He says stopping on the next one. "This is where I spend most of my time." He motions to the second floor which is one entire room. There is a desk and TV and couches she notices briefly before she is going dragged up more stairs. The next floor has two smallish bedrooms and a shared bathroom.

"Why do you need this much space?" She asks as they start climbing for the fourth floor.

"I don't really. It was my parent's property before they moved to Arelon and since I loved it so much they let me buy it." She pulls back on his hand.

"You bought this place?"

"I told you." He says moving back down the steps towards her. "People pay me a lot to listen." He places a kiss on her lips and tugs her hand. "Come on, my favorite part is up here." The fourth floor is similar to the second floor except that it's the master bedroom and about half of the floor is taken up by an amazing outdoor patio. There was a large terrace covered in ivy with chairs and a table under it. There were potted plants everywhere, even a small tree. It was like stepping out into a garden. She let go of his hand not bothering to look around the bedroom and walked out onto the deck. She looked out over his corner of Caprica City and was in love. She understood why he had wanted to keep the place.

"Your parents place on Arelon must be amazing." She comments as he came to stand next to her.

"It is. It's near the ocean." He places an arm on either side of her on the railing in front of her. She can feel the heat from his skin through her shirt and she sighs. At this rate they'll never get to dinner. It's like she can't touch him without it turning to sex.

"Well, shall you finish getting ready and we can go? I'm starving." He moves away from her and towards his closet. She follows him in there. "Gods you have more clothes than I do."

"I keep everything." He looks sheepish as he picks out a t-shirt. He looks at her for approval since she hasn't liked his previous choice. She nods. He pulls the shirt on not paying attention to his hair. It flattens in the front. She giggles and moves to run her fingers through it so the short blond hair stands up once again.

"Thanks." He breathes.

"Stop it." She points a finger at him.

"Stop what?" His eyes rove over her body.

"Thinking about me naked."

"How do you know what I was thinking about?" He teases moving to put shoes on.

"That's the look you gave me all last night thinking about what was under my dress."

"I was hoping for a repeat performance." He leads her back downstairs.

"Not likely. That was for shock factor." She says and head off towards the diner. They sit themselves at the counter. They order and he turns his body towards her. He moves a hand to move her hair behind her ear.

"So, how much longer on the repairs?"

"They're done." She comments looking sidelong at him.

"Ah, so you'll be shipping out tomorrow then?" Hating himself for asking.

"Yeah." She says absentmindedly.

"Well then, let's make this worth something." He smiles sadly, knowing it will be a while before she has enough time to spend with him again, but also knowing that he can't hold her down.

"So what made you end up on Picon?" She asked remembering his townhouse a few blocks away.

"I'm not really sure. It just seemed like something I should do. I spent about two years wandering around, getting to know people. I visited all twelve colonies. When I met you I had already decided to move back to Caprica." He takes a bite of the food just delivered. "Not very philosophical is it?"

"What part of life really is?" She asks idly.

"None if it really, but I like to pretend it is. So where is your next mission?" He asks feeling the conversation becoming strained.

"Near Geminon." She's definitely pulling away from him.

"Kara?" He says. She doesn't respond. "Kara." His voice warns. He moves his hand to her arm and grips it. She snaps out of the trance and looks at his hand.

"What?" She's agitated.

"Where were you just then?"

"Thinking."

"About what?" He asked.

"You, me, and "us"" She turns to look at him. "I've never felt this way. Not this fast. Zak was special but he had to take his time. He also kept his distance. You push me in ways I like. Your comfortable when you shouldn't be. And I don't want to leave. This is the first time I've ever had issues leaving a guy I was sleeping with. Usually I'm out the door before the light of day hits the sheets. But you make me want to stay. Do you realize what that is doing to me?" She looks upset.

"Turning your world upside down?" He offers some of his psycho babble.

"Yes. That, exactly that." She looks pained. "And yet I will take you back to your place and do wicked things to you later because I can't seem to help myself."

"Why does that bother you?"

"Because." Her voice is rising slightly, thick with panic. "Because it means that I don't just want you but on some level I need you. It makes me weak."

"It doesn't make you weak." His voice drops as he tries to soothe her.

"Yes it does. It means that when I go into a situation I will want to live more than I care if I die. It cripples me. It will inhibit the way I conduct business, because I'll always be trying to find a way back to you."

"And I will be sitting here waiting for you." He says the words he knows he shouldn't but she needs and wants to hear. It gives her the advantage. He saw last night at the triad game that she would exploit an advantage if she thought she had one. "Why would needing to see me again inhibit the way you conduct yourself? You're not physically weaker. You'll still be Starbuck. Besides, once your up there with your crew you'll feel more balanced."

"You think?" She turns to her food and pushes it away. He puts money down for their meal, feeling the conversation should be conducted in a less public place. They get up and walk slowly back to his place.

He grabs a bottle and two glasses and pulls her up to the deck on the fourth floor.

"Kara, Kara, Kara." He says shaking his head, feeling like his sitting down with a client rather than the hotshot captain she usually is. "What are you so afraid of?"

"The usual."

"Being alone."

"What?" She looks at him surprised. "I'm not afraid of being alone."

"Sure you are. You're afraid that everyone in your life will die. You've got no blood family left and the people you've relied on in your life have either walked out or died."

"Yeah well its not like you're going to promise not to die or walk out on me. You don't know me well enough to say you won't walk away when I frak up and you don't know when you'll die."

"Well even if this," he moves his hand between them, "doesn't work out, I'll still be around for you."

"Why?" She asks sipping her drink.

"It's what friends do. And I think I can call you my friend now." He smirks at that thought and sips his drink as well. She smiles weakly at that comment.

"Can we stop talking about this please?" She's very uncomfortable now.

"If you'd like." His eyes wander away from her angelic face as he tries not to think about how much its going to hurt to have her away from him. "What's your ship like?" He hopes this subject will be less uncomfortable.

"She's amazing. Not built for looks but large. We can carry quite a bit of cargo. Each of us has our own quarters."

"Yours being the largest I assume."

"Naw. They're all the same size. Makes things easier. But I do have a separate office for all of my paperwork." He snorts his drink up his nose at that comment, then swears at himself. She laughs at him as he gets up to wipe his nose as the whiskey comes out of it.

"You have paperwork?" He asks when he returns

"Absolutely. I have a ledger where I keep track of every haul we've ever done. Plus I have a separate log for the crew issues, and one for inventory of the ship. Oh and one on engineering and maintenance. In fact we just had our FTL drive repaired."

"Have you ever used it?"

"Nope. But I took all the classes at War College. I could calculate a pretty accurate jump if necessary."

"My father always told me if I got a ship to make sure the FTL worked."

"In case of Cylons?" She winked at him and wagged one eye brow.

"Ha-ha, yeah. He was a teenager the first time they attacked. He said he'd never forget the day it happened. He was at school and part of it was bombed."

"Wow." She said looking away. "Wait a minute, how old is your dad? He couldn't be that old when the first attack happened."

"He's in his seventies."

"And you're how old?" She asked.

"Forty six." She choked on her drink and her eyes widened. "What's with that look? How old are you?"

"Twenty-three" He cringes.

"I shouldn't have asked." He groans. She giggles. "It's not funny." He comments.

"It's a little funny." She says getting up and moving to straddle him. "How about now? Is it funny now?"

"No, but maybe a little disturbing." He can't think with her that close.

"Meh, what does it matter?"

"Right now, it doesn't matter."

"That sounds ominous."

"I'll try not to pick myself apart later for this. I never even thought about it until now."

"I'll make you forget about it." She says confidently leaning down to kiss him. Within minutes the disturbing fact has left his mind and all that is left are thought of her skin against his.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

He wakes up to an empty bed, and a note. He leaves the note and gets ready for work, not ready to face what she felt she couldn't say last night. Leoben goes to work and helps his clients, throwing himself into his work trying to shake off the emptiness that seems to be filling him.

When he returns that night he still avoids the letter, choosing to go about his business of the evening. It's late when he sits down with a glass of whiskey at his kitchen table. He sighs heavily and opens the note.

_Leoben,_

_Looking at you sleeping so peacefully, I can't conjure up what makes me so afraid to want you. _

_Thank-you for a wonderful couple of days. I thoroughly enjoyed your company and hope to see you again when I return to Caprica._

_Kara_

Leoben stared down at the note. Technically it didn't say much, but to a trained professional it spoke volumes. She hadn't panicked and kicked him out of her life, and it didn't accuse him of any misdeeds. He actually smiled to himself and went to bed.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kara stood in the sickbay of her ship and watches as Copper's blood flows out of him. The haul was supposed to be easy in and out. It had turned into a shooting contest, with her crew on the loosing side. They'd broken free of hard seal and jumped to the Arelon star system. Copper was only shot in the side of the leg, more of a flesh wound, but it had been a while since Kara had seen any wound. She sighed and let Hammer (their resident medic) tend him.

"What happened?" She asked Floyd angrily.

"The sleeping gas didn't work. I think someone had gas masks."

"Well, duh. But you guys are good. You know better."

"Is he going to be ok?" Floyd asks.

"Yeah, he'll be fine." She comments moving up to the command deck. Moose is sitting at the comm. working at changing the transponder signal. She turns as her commanding officer enters.

"You're getting sloppy." Moose states.

"And you're getting snotty." She retorts.

"He could have been killed."

"I'm aware." Kara comments sitting down to look at the read out from the FTL jump.

"Are you?" Moose says getting up and crosses the room. The smaller woman isn't imposing at all. Kara doesn't even stand up. "Do you give a rat's ass about us?" She spits in Kara's face.

"You're angry, I get that. But if you don't step back you're going to find out how much I care about the man down in sickbay." She warns.

"Oh yes, big ole military bitch is going to kick my ass is she?" Moose plants her hands on her hips and stares down at her captain. Kara puts the report down and stands up very slowly. Kara drops her right shoulder, faking that she's going to swing with her left. Moose takes the fake and tries to block the punch she thinks is coming to her face. Kara punches her in the stomach with her right fist. Moose doubles over before she can even think about it. Kara places a foot in front of her right foot and pushes the young woman face down straddling her shoulders. Moose tries to kick at Kara but the angle is wrong. Kara slams Moose's head down, not enough to damage anything but enough to let her know who's in charge. Kara leans down and whispers in her ear, "Don't even imply that I don't care. You don't even board the hauls, can't shoot a gun straight, and can't defend your own statements. Maybe I am getting sloppy, but you're not even in a position to be sloppy. So why are you here? Why did Dave keep you on his crew? Huh?" Moose tries to squirm out from under Kara but she just didn't have the leverage or the knowledge of how to get someone off of her.

Moose tries scratching at Kara's legs, not answering the question. Kara places her hand in the woman's hair and grinds her face into the deck plating. "If you want to insult me, you'd better be able to back it up." Kara says getting off the young woman. Moose tries to get up, but her head was starting to throb. Kara moves back to her paper work knowing that Moose would become an even larger problem now. "And if you don't trust me, you need to get the hell off my crew." Kara stormes out of the command deck to retreat to her office.

Kara knew she shouldn't have done that and she sighs to herself. She goes to her personnel ledger and writes the incident down, regretting slamming Moose's head into the deck plating. After she's finished with her reports she sits down and does something she didn't know she'd wanted to do until his face popped into her thoughts. She wrote a letter to him, to Leoben.

_Leoben,_

_Just to warn you, this might become more like a patient/doctor note but I can't talk to anyone here about it so I thought I would write you. I just beat the snot out of Moose. I'm not sure why I let her egg me on, and for a moment I felt better. But now I regret smashing her face into the deck plating. Why do I always resort to violence? It's been my pattern my entire life. It's what got me kicked out of the military and here I am again pulling the same shit. _

_She didn't even say anything that horrible to me, just that I was getting sloppy. And maybe I am. Maybe I've let my guard down too much. Dave certainly did and that's what got him killed. I guess my next vacation is going to be basic training with my crew._

_Well, we'll be stopping on Caprica in two weeks overnight. See you then._

_Kara_

She rereads the letter a few times and sends it, trying not to over think her life. She sighs and goes to work out.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Leoben reads the letter and begins anticipating her arrival, even though its weeks away. She didn't say an exact date so he asks Drew (his front end manager) to make sure the schedule is light that week. He smiles to himself and goes on working.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A week later Kara and her crew are planet side on Geminon. There is a shooting range and obstacle course. Copper's leg is on the mend but it will be a while before he can go running the gauntlet. Kara takes her best pistol and hands it to Moose. The young woman's eyes widen.

"Now the point is to hit the target where you want to hit the target, but each gun will have a different accuracy that you'll have to learn to adjust for. That gun," she nods her head at the one she just gave Moose, "has the straightest shot I've ever found, so I figured we'd start with it."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Moose says suspiciously. Kara looks at her coldly.

"Because I can't have a member of my crew who can't defend herself." Kara puts her ear muffs on and picks up her gun. Moose follows suit. Kara fires three shots and hits the target towards the middle and off to the left. Moose tries the same thing, grazing the edge of the target once and missing it completely the second and third time. Kara watches as the kick back almost knocks Moose on her ass. Kara removes her muffs and moves over to Moose.

"Looks like we'll have to get you a smaller one." Kara comments.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means your small and they make guns for small women." Moose frowns looking dejected. "Don't worry; we'll get you explosive rounds so it'll make a bigger hole." Kara comments. Moose smiles in spite of herself.

"Really?" She says grinning. Kara snorts.

"Really."

"Thanks boss." She salutes Kara with the wrong hand. Kara smiles.

"Alright, lets get moving on this course. We've got to be back on the ship in an hour."

When Kara and the crew get back into the air, Kara checks her messages. There's a note from Leoben. She opens it up.

_Kara,_

_I'm sorry to hear about Moose. I have faith you'll figure something out. And you never have to worry about turning into my patient. I try my hardest not to analyze you, but if you ever need advice don't hesitate to ask. I obviously enjoy helping people._

_Can't wait to see you._

_Leoben_

She sighs sensing there should have been more to that note but pushes the thought away. She goes down to engineering to help Skid with the engine. The woman smiles at Kara as she enters knowing the captain only comes to work on the engine when she's upset, really upset. Skid doesn't bother talking to Kara, since its so loud anyway. That's part of why Kara ends up on the engine room, more to mediate than anything. Plus no one bothers to look for her here.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own, I just play here. Also I'm not sure how this story became so shmoopy but it has. Must be that time of year.

A week later Kara steps out of the docking bay to find a certain man waiting for her with flowers. She snorts and walks up to him.

"What do you think you're doing here?" She stays out of his reach shifting her bag on her shoulder. "And with those."

"I'm waiting for a certain woman I know who drives me to do stupid things, like show up with flowers. I'm also hoping she doesn't punch me for bringing them." She smiles at the last part of the comment and moves into his personal space. He wraps an arm around her and breathes her in. "You smell like an engine." He comments pulling away and trying to kiss her. She avoids him. "I like it." He tries to recover.

"Uh-huh." She tries to move away from him. He moves his other arm around her and locks her against him.

"I like you how ever I can have you." He leans down and kisses her briefly, feeling her trying to pull back. He waits patiently and calmly moving his lips against hers as he rubs his hands up her back. She lets out a slight gasp as her body reacts and returns the kiss.

"You suck." She says when he pulls back. He smiles and she can't help herself from smiling.

"Not as well as you do." He whispers in her ear as they move to leave the docking station. She smacks him on the chest and allows him to drag her outside. He hails a cab. "Your place or mine?" He asks.

"As long as I can do my laundry I don't care." She thinks better of that. "Your place." He smiles.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once inside his place he starts her laundry for her while she uses his shower. She is toweling off her hair when he enters the bathroom. He grins at her and she scowls back.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's nice to see you."

"It's nice to see me? Or it's nice to see me in one of your shirts?" She asked pulling the material away from herself; he didn't seem to have a robe so she'd hijacked one of his tee shirts.

"Both." He leans against the counter, as far away from her as he can manage, wanting her to come to him. It's petty and childish and he knows it but he can't seem to help himself. She doesn't seem thrilled to see him and its puzzling him. After a few moments of staring at one another, she moves past him into his bedroom and out into the mid day sun on the deck. She breathes in the smell of the flowers and the city and sighs. She wraps her arms around herself trying to calm the urge she has to run to him and wrap herself around him. After he doesn't follow her out onto the deck she stops resisting the urge and goes back in to find him.

He's still leaning against the sink, lost in thought. She moves in front of him and takes his face in her hands and moves his lips to hers. He doesn't move, just waits for her next move. She moves her hand around to the back of his neck as she presses her body against his crossed arm. He finally moves his arms around her.

"Are you pouting?" She asks pulling away, realizing what she just did. He grins at her. "Bastard." She says trying to pull away.

"Not yet." He says crushing her to him. She leans her ear against his chest and listens to his heart. He puts his chin on top of her head and just holds her. When she lets out a sigh, he releases her.

"What's wrong Kara?" He asks as he follows her back out onto the deck.

"Nothing." She sighs looking out over the city.

"Wow. How do you bet so well at triad? You're the worst liar I've ever seen." She sighs and looks away from him. "You can tell me. Even if it seems stupid."

"So are you my boyfriend or my therapist right now?" She retorts. He looks taken back.

"You're boyfriend. I promise to only give advice if you ask about it, but you need to talk things out sometimes."

"Who do you talk to?" She asks suddenly.

"You and my parents. Course I've been in counseling for most of my life. Adoption was hard on me when I was a kid; still is to some extent." He walks up next to her and rubs a hand up her arm. "What's wrong?"

She looks into his ice blue eyes and hesitates still. She doesn't want to admit what's been bothering her. It seems stupid. This is how she's always been. Why should she want to change now? And it wasn't because if him. She'd been questioning herself for months now. Well really almost two years now, since Zak's death.

"I'm wondering…" She growls frustrated. She looks at him pleadingly. "Why can't you just leave it alone?" She asks.

"Will you talk to anyone else about it?" He asks solemnly. She bites her bottom lip. "I thought so. But whatever it is, you need to let it out before it eats you up."

"It's just that I've been questioning myself a lot lately. Usually I go balls to the walls not thinking about what I'm doing. And suddenly, ok not so suddenly, but slowly over time I've started to question myself and my decisions. It's so unlike me."

"It's normal." He says without thinking. That is the therapist. She huffs at him and he reaches out to comfort her. "Sorry, but its part of my personality. I'll try to tone it down." He closes his mouth.

"I've never had this much doubt before. And I'm really starting to hate it."

"What makes you not trust yourself any more?" He asks curious how the confident woman he knows was falling to pieces in front of him.

"I don't know." She says quietly, knowing he'll see through that particular lie.

"Kara." He says. "You know why." He moves back from embracing her. "You need to say it. You need to let someone else take on some of the guilt you've been carrying around."

"I hate you." She breathes.

"Good. Now say it."

"I killed him. I killed Zak." She breathes.

"No you didn't." He contradicts her statement.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes I do." She snorts at him and moves away from him. "Every one of us has free choice. He chose to go to flight school when he knew he didn't have the passion for flying. He knew when he was struggling in sims that he wasn't going to make it. He knew he was fulfilling someone else's hopes and dreams for him. Children do it all the time. They take the expectation of the parents and make it their own, pretending that it's what they want or need. You alone cannot be blamed for his death. Accidents happen. How many of your other students have died?"

"I don't know."

"I bet a few have. And you know what? You can only teach someone so much and then you have to let them go. Sure failing basic should have kicked Zak out of the cockpit but don't you think he would just keep trying until he passed and then he would do the same exact thing?"

"Maybe." She admitted.

"So stop trying to shoulder all of the blame. You alone cannot decide someone's life, unless you actually put a gun to their head and shoot them."

"That's what it feels like I did." She comments, tears brimming her eyes. "It feels like I stood there and pulled the trigger. How could I do that to someone I claimed to love?"

"The same way parents and loved ones let people go all of the time. You were selfish for a second; you took what you wanted and Kara?" He asked, she looked at him. "There's nothing wrong with being a little selfish every now and again. You deserve to be happy."

"No I don't." She retorts as the tears start to fall. He's tried to keep his distance but can't manage it while the tears fall down her face.

"Everyone deserves happiness. Everyone." He says fiercely as he wraps his arms around her shoulders.

"Even a frak up like me?" She tries to joke to cover up the uncomfortable silence following his last comments. He pulls back and looks down into her reddened face and smoothes her now dry hair away from her face.

"Especially you." He brings his lips down to kiss her. The stand entwined for a long while before Kara's stomach starts to growl. She giggles and moves away from him.

"Got anything edible?" She asks.

"I can make you a sandwich." He comments taking her hand.

"Sure." She says following him into the house. After they've eaten she looks at him and says "Thanks"

"For what?"

"For going all headshrinkers on me." He ducks his head.

"I didn't mean to. It just kicked in. I've really got to practice not doing that. Especially with you. You don't need me doing that all of the time."

"That might be true, but today I needed it." He smiled and reached across the table to squeeze her hand.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few hours later, and several episodes of mattress acrobatics later, Kara lays on Leoben's chest drawing her fingers up and down his naked flesh.

"You're special." She comments lazily.

"What makes you say that?" He asks suspicious. She moves her chin so she can look at him. "And thanks, but seriously what makes you say that? Last time you were here you were claiming we had nothing in common."

"Usually I would have stormed out after someone forced me to face the music, and here I am naked, laying on top of you. You must be special for me not to punch you and run away."

"Ah, you do know how to romance a man." He runs his hand up her back. "I'm glad there's some indescribable feature that I possess that hasn't made you kick me out of your life yet."

"What do you see in me?" She asks soberly. He smiles at her.

"Well," he starts adjusting her on his chest, pulling her closer "You have a presence that fills a room. You walk like you know exactly where you're going, even when you don't. You're gorgeous. You make my heart hammer when you say my name and I can't get enough of your skin. Need more?"

"Maybe." She says teasingly.

"What do you see in me?" He asks.

"Damn, I knew that would backfire." She laughs as he tickles her. "Stop, Stop!" She gasps. "I'll tell you!" She pants trying to catch her breath. He hands stop tickling her waiting expectantly. "First your eyes speak volumes without saying a word. You're passionate about the world around you. Your eyes are a beautiful blue color. You soothe me when I should want to punch someone. You make me forget to breathe when you whisper in my ear. I can't get enough of your skin against mine. You kiss me just the way I like without encouragement or thought and you kiss me exactly when you shouldn't but it always feels like the right time. And you make me laugh."

He brushes her hair away from her face and pulls her towards him. He showers kisses on her face until she stops him and moves to kiss him more passionately. She sighs and pulls away.

"I don't think I can handle any more." She comments.

"Really?" He asks greedily. "I though you couldn't get enough of my skin."

"Skin, yes. Possessive taking of my body over and over again tends to make me walk funny."

"How about a bath then?"

"Heck no. You, me and water equals more sex. I'm trying to prevent sex." She laughs softly. "I never thought I'd be trying to prevent sex." She hops out of bed and rummages through his clothes looking for sweat pants.

"Top drawer on the right." He comments understanding she's looking for a lower half. She pulls the pants on and picks up the disregarded shirt from earlier over her head. He smiles widely looking at her in his clothes. She's not that much shorter than he is but her frame is smaller and the shirt and pants envelope her as she stands next to the bed. He grabs her hand and drags her back down into bed. He rolls her over to the other side of the bed, ending up pinning her arms above her head. She looks serious as she leans up and tries to kiss him. He pulls back a fraction, knowing she can't follow. He smiles impishly and moves his body against hers. She moans and arches her body against his in response. He releases her arms and buries his face in her neck, just holding her against him. She starts to squirm as his breath tickles her neck.

And then Leoben does something he immediately regrets, "I love you." He breathes. He freezes, realizing what he just said. He waits, hoping she didn't hear him. He feels her still underneath him. Her pulse jumps against his lips and starts racing and he swears inside his head, knowing she heard. They both lay there as still as possible, waiting for the other to make a move. He leans up on his elbows finally to look into her eyes.

"I'm sorry Kara. I didn't mean to say that." He pleads with her. She looks at him puzzled and a little distant.

"Did you mean it?" She whispers.

"I'm so sorry."

"Did you mean it?" She asks a little louder.

"Of course I meant it. I just didn't mean to speak it out loud."

"Why?"

"I'm afraid to feel this way, this quickly about someone who's slightly afraid of even being a couple with me. I don't want to get shattered into pieces." He sits up and moves away from her. He sits on the edge of the bed, then moves to put clothes on. She doesn't move or say anything and he takes it as a bad sign. He doesn't want to try to chase her down naked either, so he slips a pair of pants on first. He pulls his shirt on and sits back on the bed not facing Kara. He feels the bed move and expects to have to chase after her. Instead he feels her arms around his chest and across his neck.

"Leoben?" She asks softly. He doesn't move or speak. "It's ok. I think I love you too." Her voice almost dies out in the end, as if she's afraid to even say the words. He spins to look at her. She just kneels on the bed looking at him. He grabs her and wraps her in his arms and feels his heart swell. By the end of the night they fall asleep holding one another.

_________________________

TBC..................


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own nothing and this is not meant to infringe, just me playing with the charters. Also I have an odd obsession with nick naming characters ridiculous nick names.

One year later

Leoben waits at the space dock with his and Kara's bags packed. Kara and the Temptation are picking him up to take them both to Arelon. After a year he has finally convinced her, after many fights, to meet his family. He sighs almost happily that they'd survived those fights. Once she'd even punched him when the fight had turned into Kara's sorted past with her own family.

The Temptation was late, as per usual. Seemed that hauls weren't exactly something that could be rushed. He sighs, sitting down with a magazine. He had taken a half day off to prepare for the trip since he had to pack Kara's things too. She'd moved in with him a few months back since she never saw her place anyways. They'd hung the picture she'd painted in the front foyer of their town house.

About two hours past the rendezvous time, the Temptation pulls into docking bay 4. Copper and Floyd came out first swearing at one another. They spot Leoben and hurriedly wave him over. The dock plate is already closing as they walk onto the ship. He knew the rush wasn't good. It meant that something had gone wrong and now they had to rush to the next haul. He escorts himself to Kara's quarters and settles in, knowing she would come looking for him when she was damn well ready.

This was his fifth time flying as a passenger on the Temptation. They'd taken a few vacations on Picon and Saggitaron. One had been a religious retreat that Kara had convinced him to go on. It had done both of them some good to reconnect with the gods and each other, although it was a celibate campus so most of the reconnecting was done once they were back on the ship. The other two voyages were just so he could spend some time with Kara.

The crew had become accustom to him and he even held sessions with Moose, Hammer and Floyd. They had some experiences in their pasts that were haunting them and Leoben gladly agreed to listen. Kara had tried to ask him to tell her but all she got was an icy glare. He had found out the hard way that he wasn't allowed in certain parts of the ship, like the hold or the engine room. Kara had turned all shades of purple yelling at him about that. And still he smiled at the memory. At the time he'd matched her passion with his own, which always ended in them frakking until neither of them could move.

The crew was always greatly amused that Kara treated her boyfriend just like any other member of the crew. They never could complain that he was given special privileges other than getting to see her naked. It made having Leoben on board for a few days easier.

After a few hours, Kara ventures to her quarters to find her boyfriend sleeping on her bed. She glares at him, knowing she was still angry about finally loosing the battle to meet his family. She would be leaving her crew to fend for themselves for a week. She didn't like it at all. She grumbles to herself and changes into clean clothes before sitting on the rock hard bed. The movement did what she intended and woke Leoben up.

"Hey." He says sitting up.

"Hi." She says tersely.

"Still upset?" He asks.

"Yes." She bit back, pouting. He moves his hand up and catches her bottom lip with his thumb. He draws her lips towards his kissing her softly. "Stop that." She said against his lips.

"Well sweetheart," he said sarcastically, pulling his lips away from hers. "I'm already here and we're on our way to Arelon, so deal with it."

"How did you win this argument again?" She asked.

"We played triad." Damn, she thought sitting on the bed. He had learned how to read her over the past year. She sighs and rolls onto the bed next to him.

"I still say you cheated."

"I never cheat."

"Sure you do, you just call it some sort of observation thing."

"Still not cheating."

"It is at the casino." She huffs. He shifts so he was laying on his side looking down at her.

"Why are you so mad at me?" He sighs trying to touch her stomach. She brushes his hand away.

"Because I don't want to go stay with your perfect family."

"They're not perfect and you've met Janice. I got very lucky to be adopted into a wonderful family and I love you and I want them to meet you and you to meet them."

"That doesn't make me feel any better." She pouts again. He slams a hand down on the mattress.

"Dammit Kara. This is important to me. I'm sick of you bellyaching. You're going. You agreed to go, whether you like it or not and then you lost a bet that binds you to go too. So suck it up." His eyes flash angrily. Her eyes get large, finally understanding that she's pushed him to real anger. He rolls onto his back, shocked that he just lashed out at her like that. _She was pushing me, what did she expect?_ He thinks to himself.

After what seemed like forever Kara moves her hand into his. He moves his head so he can look at her. She looks apologetic but he waits for her to say the words.

"I'm sorry. I'm being a child about this. I promise not to frak this up as much as I am able to promise that."

"Alright." He accepts her last statement. She rolls towards him and smoothes an arm across his stomach while moving her head onto his shoulder. He moves his arm under and around her so her head comes to rest in the crook of his shoulder. His hand comes to rest on her ribs and he pulls her tight against him. Her breath escapes her in a rush and it tickles his neck. His other hand comes up to cup her face and stroke her cheek. She sighs contently and moves against his hand.

"I love you, you know." She whispers against his neck. He tilts her head up and moves his lips down to meet hers.

"I love you too." He says after breaking away from her. He rolls onto his side and presses his forehead to hers. They're not sure how long they stay like that, since both fall asleep for a while. There is a loud bang on the door that starts both of them out of their nap.

"What?" Kara asks opening the hatch to her room.

"Sir. We've arrived at Arelon." Copper reports. Kara's eyes get wide.

"Couldn't wait to get rid of me, eh? Alright. Thanks Copper. We'll be right out." She says turning back to Leoben. "We're here, it would seem."

"Wow that must have been some nap." He comments getting up from the bed. He grabs their bags and heads out the door. Kara follows and tries to take her bag to no avail. _He's getting more stubborn each day_, Kara thinks to herself. She smiles, knowing it's partially a reaction to her own stubbornness. As they exit Kara catches site of an older couple smiling and holding one another. _Great, they're adorable_, she thinks to herself.

"Kara?" Leoben interrupts her thoughts.

"Leoben?" He's looking at her seriously.

"Calm down. Those aren't my parents." He watches as she visibly relaxes and shakes his head. _She's going to give herself an ulcer_, he thinks to himself. He snorts to himself realizing he should tell her that rather than have a conversation in his own head. "You're going to give yourself an ulcer if you keep up that level of panic." He sets the bags down and takes her hands. "Seems my parents are a little late."

They wait in the docking area for about half an hour before Janice, his eldest sister shows up. Kara smiles, she's already met Janice and turns out she likes his eldest sister; lots of embarrassing stories came from Janice. They all smile at one another and load the bags into the car.

"How was the trip in?" Janice asks as Leoben insists that Kara sit in the front seat. She scowls at him but smiles at Janice.

"It was quick actually. Feels like we blinked and we were here." She smiles, since that's exactly what happened.

"Well you'll be happy to know that Carmen and the kids will be here tomorrow for a few days and Chris and his wife will be here later in the week."

"Are they bringing the kids?" He asks.

"Of course. Couldn't make a trip all the way out to Mom and Dad's and not bring the kids."

"It's not that far." He comments.

"So Kara, ready to meet the rest of the family?" Janice says as she pulls into the drive.

"As ready as I'll ever be." She comments, mostly to herself.

Leoben's parents aren't waiting for them like she had expected. His mom is in the kitchen cooking something and it would seem his dad isn't even in the house when they arrive.

"Mom?" Leoben calls out as they enter the kitchen. The elder lady turns and her entire face lights up when she sees her son. They embrace and then Leoben moves to the side to give his mom a view of Kara.

"Mom, this is Kara." He motions Kara over. "Kara, this is my mom Elizabeth." Kara reaches out and offers her hand to Elizabeth. Elizabeth smiles and pulls Kara into a hug.

"Please call me Mama Liz, everyone else does." She pulls back from Kara and looks at her for a moment. "Leoben, you didn't warn us that she was so young and pretty. How did you ever get tangled up with my youngest trouble maker?" Liz asks pulling Kara to sit down at the table. Kara smiles at the warmth Liz is giving her.

"We met at a bar."

"And at that bar Kara was the trouble maker, not me mom." He gets up and helps himself to a glass of water.

"Ah someone to rival your sense of adventure." She comments to her son. "Well I'm sure it's been a long journey getting here. Obie, would you show her to your guys' room? You can catch a nap or get clean or just breathe before we have dinner and the whole group descends." Liz squeezes Kara's hand and looks expectantly at her son. He smiles at the two women and moves to pick up their bags.

"Which guest room?"

"The ocean themed one."

"They're all ocean themed mom." He remarks.

"The one on the south side, facing the ocean. Be particular." She smirks at him and moves around the kitchen.

Leoben leads her down the hall. She notices the house is a huge square with a large courtyard in the middle with a garden. The room they're to share has a deck that goes right out onto the sand of the beach. Kara opens the door and goes to stand with her feet in the sand. He leaves her alone and goes to turn on the shower. After a few moments of listening and watching the ocean, Kara turns and goes back inside. She steps into the large shower and surprises him.

"I thought you would need some time alone." He comments putting his arms around her.

"And I though you said you didn't have any nicknames." She giggles into his chest.

"Only my mother calls me that. Not even my siblings do."

"Ah well then, I best refrain shouldn't I Obie?" She laughs full out as his arms squeeze around her tighter.

"Whatever you say, Kar-bear." He uses the nick name he made up months ago for her and she despises it. She tries to push him away and fails as he has figured out the best way to disarm her is to kiss her, which he does. "See now, was that so bad?" He asks pulling away before their embrace turns to more.

"Not yet." She says grumpily.

They finish getting clean and put clean clothes on before venturing out to see what's going on. It seems that Leoben's father is out surfing. They move to sit out on the back porch.

"Your father surfs?" She asks incredulously.

"Absolutely. That's why they moved here."

"That's not the only reason, but it's some of it." Liz sets down a round of drinks. She hands one to Kara. "Here, I figure its a little nerve wracking to meet the family so we're starting early with the drinks."

"I've never seen you drink whiskey, let alone before dinner." Leoben comments taking a glass.

"It's a special occasion. It's been years since I've seen all of my kids in one place at the same time. I think it calls for some celebratory drinks!" Liz leans forward and clinks glasses with Kara and then her son. Kara smiles and sips her drink.

"So Kara, what do you do?" Liz asks.

"Oh, um, I'm the captain of a shipping vessel."

"At your age? My, you must be talented."

"I was a talented pilot, until I got myself kicked out of the military, which is why I was a little drunk one night at a bar and got a little too rowdy. Luckily for me it was that part of my personality that Dave, the former captain, was looking for in a crewmate. So he signed me up and I got back out into the stars. Granted it's not the same view as I would have had from my viper, but at least it's still flying."

"What happened to Dave?" She asked concerned for a man she'd never met.

"He got drunk and got into a fight by himself and someone shot him. If his XO had been with him, I think he'd still be around."

"Wow, you've led quite a life at your age."

"Mom, just ask if you want to know." Leoben comments over the rim of his glass. Liz glares at him for a moment.

"Fine." She huffs at her son. "Dear how old are you?" She looks at Kara very seriously. Kara laughs.

"Too young." She comments. "I just turned 24."

"Oh my." Liz says. "My son has turned into a cradle robber." She jokes looking over at her son.

"Yes he has. In his defense we didn't discover that part until we were already involved." Kara comments. Leoben looks over at her as if she's gone a little bit nuts. She hadn't thought they were together at that time. "What?" She asks noticing he's looking at her.

"Just admiring you." He covers up his shock that Kara would tell his mom that they had been a couple before they'd figured out the age difference.

"Uh-huh. Sure. Anyways. I've been with that crew for almost two years now. It's amazing how time flies."

"Absolutely. Just wait until you're my age. The days usually just blur together."

"So what do you do around here most days? I mean it's nice as a vacation spot but I'm not sure I could sit in the sun every day." Liz laughs.

"Well I walk into town, I ride my bike, I paint, I read. Just normal hobby type stuff, I just take my time doing it. I love to cook. Although I tend to wander away from it and that makes life interesting sometimes." She laughs at herself. "It's a great place to live."

"It seems to be."

"Are you going to take her out in the kayak?" Liz asks, turning to her son. "It's the best way to see the coast." He takes a sip of his drink before he answers.

"Maybe. I was thinking Kara would prefer surfing. Much more danger. And she lives for danger."

"Do you now?" Liz says earnestly. Kara smiles and tries not to giggle. "What is the craziest thing you've ever done?" She asks her eyes alight.

"Oh, um, lords there are so many. Give me a moment." She sits back in the chair. "Ooh, I've got it. Once I landed my viper on my canopy. It was a simulated combat landing and one of the nuggets had clipped my engine. I could have waited for the SAR bird to get me but I was approved for landing, so I landed."

"Good gods, how does your mother deal with that type of stress?" Liz asks.

"She was in the military too, but she passed away from cancer a few years ago."

"She must have been proud of you becoming an officer." Kara nodded.

"And a little less so of me getting kicked out but I'm actually pretty happy with where I'm at currently."

"It's taken a lot of convincing." Leoben interjected.

"Hey, what happened to the doctor/patient thing you keep reminding me about?" She tries to act upset but a laugh escapes her before she can pull the right face.

"Kara, are you as stubborn as my Obie?" Liz asks. Kara nearly spits her drink out. She smiles and looks at Leoben, realizing all the warnings he'd given her were true.

"I think I'm more so."

"Good. He needs it." She says resolutely. Liz smiles into her glass, thinking of how well this very young woman compliments her son.

Leoben reaches over his chair and grabs Kara's hand. Kara tries to pull away, a little shy still but he squeezes her hand and laces his fingers through hers. She looks into his eyes puzzled by his behavior. It's so rare that he puzzles her that that in itself puzzles her even more.

"If you two will excuse me. I have to go make sure I haven't set dinner on fire quite yet." She sets her drink down and goes inside. Kara looks at Leoben with wide eyes.

"I warned you." He said calmly. "If you thought I would pry, just wait. My mom is gentle compared to Chris and Carmen. Carmen will try to eat you alive if you let her."

"Sounds like a challenge to me." He groans and squeezes her hand again.

"Ah, there's dad." He says trying to distract her. An older man is walking towards the house carrying a very long board. The man beams at them as they sit on the deck with their drinks. "Hey dad." Leoben says letting go of Kara's hand and standing to embrace his father. Kara stands next to Leoben waiting. "Dad, this is Kara. The young lady I've been telling you about." Kara offers her hand.

"Young indeed." He says taking her hand.

"Stop dad, mom already asked. Talk to her. Kara, this is Rob, my father."

"Well, it's nice to have you here. I'd best get cleaned up before dinner or your mom will have my head." He says and moves into the house.

"So I take it our age difference is something to talk about?"

"Well I was twenty something when you were born. Makes me look at myself funny sometimes." She snorts.

"Maybe you should have your head shrunk." She quips at him. She grins and hops off the porch onto the soft sand.

"Where do you think you're going?" He calls after her.

"For a walk. Care to join me?" She asks before she can think better of it.

"Always." He says moving down to join her. The walk is short since dinner should be ready soon. When they arrive back at the beach house, the table outside is set. Janice has joined the group with her husband and kids. Dinner turns out to go smoothly. Kara only says frak once instead of a multitude of times.

Soon the fireflies come out. Kara stares at them in amazement. She'd always heard of them but had never actually seen them. Leoben sits back and observes Kara as his family interacts around them. She's almost continually laughing and answering questions. His parents seem quite taken with her. The thought makes him smile as he joins back in the conversation.

"No Kara was not taken with me the first time she saw me." He chimed in. They had all seen his vacant look and written him off as a participant in the story.

"What? You have no idea what I was thinking." She gives him a glare.

"You barely would tell me your name. I don't think you smiled at me the whole time we spoke." He said leaning towards her.

"So? I was playing hard to get." She says winking at Janice. His sister laughs even harder.

"You were playing impossible to get." He commented.

"Well one of us had to." She said wagging her eyebrows at him.

"Ouch, son. She makes you sound like a flirt." His father says. Leoben ducks his head.

"He was." Janice pipes up.

"I see how it is. Get someone else to gang up on me with, eh sis? I feel how much you love me." He pouts. She fishes an ice cube out of her drink and throws it at him. He catches it and throws it back.

"And here you thought you were going to meet a nice civilized family and be forced to talk about politics." Liz leans over and says to Kara. She laughs and watches Leoben take his abuse from his eldest sibling. Her smile fades a little around the edges as she wonders what it would be like to have someone like that. Her thoughts turn to Helo and her smiles comes back to full force and she realizes she got to pick her brother.

"Well, as much as I'd like to continue torturing you little brother, we'll be back tomorrow for the lobster bake. Do you need help in the morning dad?" Janice says clearing the last of the dishes away.

"Naw. I'll make Leoben help. He'll be here anyways. No need for you to come out here that early tomorrow. But thanks." They all move inside.

Kara helps Leoben finish the dishes in the kitchen. The work silently, poking each other now and again and splashing water just about everywhere. He moves up behind her when she's washing the last dish off and wraps himself around her. She smiles, grabs the towel and turns in his arms. He kisses her briefly seeing his parents coming in.

"Good night, you two." His father calls. Liz comes up and hugs Kara.

"I'm so glad you've come." She says. "Night Obie." Liz pats her son on the back and moves out of the kitchen.

"Shall we my love?"

"Gross." She gags.

"What?"

"My love…ew. I prefer Kar-bear to that. Or babe or hun or anything." He looks at her puzzled.

"Alright 'anything', shall we get to bed? I have to be up at 6 am to help my father with the lobster bake." He says.

"Seriously? That's disgusting." She takes his hand as he leads her to their room. "Oh, can we sleep with the doors open?" Seeing that there is a screen door to keep the bugs out.

"That's the only way to sleep in this room." He says moving to open the doors.

"I'll just be a moment." She says going to the bathroom. She knew this was a special occasion for him so she went and did something completely girly. She bought a matching set of bra and panties. She undressed in the bathroom looking at herself from the front and side. Well he's seen it all now, she thought before opening the door back to the bedroom. The ocean breeze is making the soft curtains flow inwards giving the room an ethereal feel. His back is to her as he stands in the moonlight.

"Leoben?" She says somewhat uncertainly. He half turns to look at her and his jaw drops. He unfolds his arms from across his body and moves towards her. He caresses his hand down her cheek and kisses her forehead.

"Let me love you." He whispers his lips against her forehead. Her arms moves to slowly wrap around his waist and she nods her head. He leads her towards the bed and sits her down on the edge. He takes his shirt off and kneels in front of her, moving between her legs. His hands roam down her naked legs and back up. He kisses her thighs, knees and ankles before moving up her body. He leans down and kisses her, running his fingers through her hair and laying them down in the process. He moves her across the bed and strokes a hand down the tattoo on her arm and down the meet her hand. She moves only fractionally, not wanting to push the moment.

"What's wrong?" He asks noticing her usual passion is subdued.

"Nothing." Her breath comes out raspy.

"Then why are you just laying there?" He looks at her like she's totally lost it.

"I was letting you touch me instead of fighting to see who can race towards the end."

"Oh." He smiles at her. That is the first night Kara lets Leoben make love to her. After she lies awake, smiling as she watches as he falls asleep. Her eyes get heavy and she falls asleep shortly after.

TBC...


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters I just play in their world for a while.

Kara is up before Leoben the next morning, tinkering around the kitchen. She's already made coffee and changed into her bathing suit, having thrown a sweat shirt and shorts over the bikini.

"What are you doing up?" He asks kissing the back of her head.

"I am going to help." She says moving to add more coffee to her cup.

"Alright!" He says getting himself some coffee. "Less shoveling for me!" He exclaims leaning against the counter.

"Are you talking to yourself son?" Rob asks coming into the kitchen. "Kara, I didn't think to see you up this early." He says as she comes into view in the kitchen next to Leoben.

"She's agreed to help."

"I insisted that I help." She corrected Leoben.

"Well then, grab a pail and let's head out. Your mother is bringing the food in a few hours. By car." He mentions when Leoben looks like he might volunteer to stay and help his mother. "You're such a mama's boy." They haul all sorts of shoveling tools out to the beach. Leoben volunteers to get the fire going while Kara and Rob get started on the pit.

An hour later Kara and Rob are standing in a good sized hole. Leoben is sitting watching and smirking.

"Son, how did you convince your pretty companion here to do all your work?"

"I didn't. She wanted to come. Besides it makes her happy to have something to do, doesn't it Kara?"

"Yeah. I can't really sit around all day."

"Well, you'll have to get over that this week." Rob remarks. "That's pretty much all we do."

"Don't forget the drinking dad, lords you're going to scare my date off the planet."

"I'll leave that up to you." Rob says with a hint of sarcasm.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." He mutters.

Soon the food arrives and they throw the hot ashes and embers from the fire into the pit. The food is stacked on racks and then everyone helps push the sand back on top of the food.

"Well." Rob says kissing his wife. "I am off to the water. Care to join me?" He asks Kara and Leoben.

"I will." Kara says smiling.

"I'll go tomorrow, thanks dad. Have fun."

Liz waits until they're out of earshot before grilling her son. "You've never brought _anyone_ home. She must be very special."

"She is. She's a handful though."

"Are you going to ask her while you're here?" She sits in the sand as she watches her husband give the beach instructions to Kara before they dive in. She smiles to herself and then looks up at her son. "Sit down. You already tower over me when I'm standing." He sits next to her.

"Am I going to ask her what?" He pretends he hasn't a clue what she's talking about.

"Please Obie. You're such a bad liar." He makes a face at her and sighs.

"I'd like to. I'm just not sure she's ready."

"Maybe, maybe not. But you should let her know that it's available. You never know. What's the worst that could happen?"

"She'd break my heart."

"Ah yes but to love deeply you must give all of yourself. It's the only way she'll say yes, is if you give yourself completely." He just stared out across the sand. "Did you at least buy a ring?"

"Course." He takes the small circle out of his pocket and hands it to his mom. "I'm not that stupid." The band is small and simple.

"When were you planning to ask?" She asks handing the ring back.

"No idea. I was hoping I would know the right moment."

"You will. I'm so excited for you." She gushes.

"Don't tell anyone else. They'll tease too openly and then she'll figure it out."

"Alright but you'd better tell us the moment she answers either way."

"Oh I'm sure you'll know, either way." His heart hammered traitorously against his chest as he thinks of asking her to marry him. It was stupid and romantic and he hopes she didn't punch him for it or worse.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hours later Leoben and Liz had returned to the house to get out of the sun. Kara was standing up on her surf board by the time they'd left. Leoben had smiled encouragingly and waved. It was lunch time by the time Kara and Rob come up the path to the house. She races up to him and wrapped her wet arms around him.

"You're all wet and salty." He whispered as he kisses her lips.

"Tends to happen when you eat it off a surf board." She laughs and moves to the outdoor shower to get the sticky salt off of her skin before trudging inside. The sand is everywhere and resists coming off in the shower. He comes at her with a huge beach towel. She tries to avoid him and ends up wrapped in the towel and his arms.

"I think they're going to make me puke this week." Rob comments to his wife as he kisses her. "I thought we were bad."

"We used to be worse than that."

"What happened?"

"Kids, political crap, jobs. Life. But I still love you; I just don't want you chasing me with a towel."

"Don't you think she's a little young?" Rob asks.

"You watch them and tell me she's too young or he's too old. They're fine. Stop worrying. How did you end up being the worrier?" She asks moving the food to the small kitchen table. "Lunch." She calls out. The liquor starts for the day with a spike in the iced tea.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After lunch they retreat to their room so Kara can take a real shower. Leoben falls asleep on the bed while she's in the shower. She joins him after toweling her hair off. After a few minutes of listening to his slow breathing Kara gets up and gets dressed. She goes out on the steps and sits with a book she brought. She doesn't even bother opening the book; she just stares out at the ocean.

He joins her after about an hour. Neither of them say anything; they just sit there taking in the scenery. Soon the house has picked up new life as his sister's arrive. He takes her hand and drags her to meet his other sister. She grimaces before putting her best Starbuck face on to meet the new arrival.

Carmen is standing in the kitchen when Leoben and Kara enter. She turns her cool stare towards Kara and tries to size her up.

"Did you guys get a sitter for the kids tonight?" She comments, knowing full well her brother is holding the woman's hand. Kara laughs outright, loud and clear.

"If you'd ever seen me with kids, you wouldn't even joke about that." She replies. She walks up to Carmen, who now has a hand on her hip. "Hi, I'm Kara. Your brother's girlfriend." Kara puts her hand out; Carmen takes it limply like some women do. Kara gives her a real handshake. Carmen pulls back rubbing her hand. She looks past Kara to Leoben and speaks as though Kara isn't right in front of her.

"Kind of a tomboy, isn't she?" Leoben moves to grab Kara if necessary. She just smiles.

"Through and through." Kara says sweetly. Leoben presses his body against her back, and relaxes a little as she pulls his arms around her.

"Why would you be proud of that?" Carmen asks. Carmen is the type of woman that puts make-up on to get the morning paper.

"Why would you be proud to be such a sissy?" Kara retorts. She bites her tongue. Damn, things were going so well too she thought to herself. Leoben kisses the back of her neck and steers her towards Janice, the nice sister.

"Hi Kara." Janice says.

"Hi Janice. How was the drive in?"

"Good. All the kids in the back were a little more than I could handle. Thankfully they'll be able to run muck tonight." Leoben lets Kara wander outside with Janice, waiting to confront Carmen.

"Do you have to do that?" He asks.

"Do what?"

"Be such a bitch."

"She was a bitch right back." He moves closer to his sister.

"Do you know why I was holding her?"

"Afraid she'll slap me or pull my hair?" Carmen shrugs.

"No, she punches full grown men out cold. Think about it before you piss her off again. There might be a time when she's not as calm and I'm not around."

"Are you threatening me, little brother?"

"No, she'll do it for me." He said grabbing food to carry out to the sand pit. _Well that went well_, he thought to himself. Carmen had always had a problem with Leoben because he usurped her title as youngest of the Conoys. He sighs to himself knowing she would need professional help before she'd forgive him. Kara has immersed herself with his parents and Janice when he arrives. He smiles at the scene. The kids are actually quite taken with Kara and ask her to help them build a sand castle. Leoben joins them, just in case she wasn't kidding about being bad with kids.

She wasn't the best with kids but she was good with building sand castles, so they kids love her anyways. They all helped haul the sand out of the pit and Kara started cutting the castle out of the sand. When she's done, they all stand back and admire the castle. The kids found leaves for the tops of the spires and they had made a moat that went from the ocean around the castle. Leoben handed Kara a glass of wine as he came to admire her work.

"Wow." He says.

"Yeah. I've never made one before." She comments moving her arm around his hips.

"Seriously?"

"Honestly."

"Well then, it's a good thing I brought my camera. Go stand next to it."

"Naw. Just take a picture of it." She says. He does and he shows her the digital readout. "Nice. Maybe when the sun is setting you can lay on the other side of it and make it look huge?" She suggests. He smiles at her and they move to get some food. They miss the sunset and one of the kids runs into the sand castle.

"Jimmy, what do you say?" Janice prompts. The little boy wipes his nose on his arm as he tries not to cry.

"Sorry."

"It's ok. The ocean would have taken it away at some point. Here, lets all wreck it!" She grabs Jimmy's hand and the other kids come running after them. They trample the sand castle to the ground. "Invasion of the giants." Kara says as they stomp the on the already flattened sand.

Leoben is sitting next to his dad watching Kara play with the kids. He knows how she feels about kids and sighs, knowing that he's giving up that part of his hopes and dreams. _But she's worth it_, his mind screams. He chuckles to himself and returns his attention to the conversation.

The kids set up their tents and are passed out before any of the adults are even feeling tipsy.

Leoben grabs a bottle of whiskey and Kara and they head off down the beach, and away from prying eyes. She's slipped a sweat shirt over her top but still huddles close to him for warmth. They pass the bottle back and forth until the stars are dancing for them. It makes Kara want to dance. She moves to a song only she can hear.

"Join me?" She asks. He tries to keep up with her but there's no discernable rhythm for him to pick up. He falls down laughing. She collapses in his lap and he wraps himself around her like he always does when she's within reach. She kisses his arm around her neck and leans back into him.

"Enjoying yourself?" He asks.

"Absolutely." She nods.

"Good." He can feel his body react as he realizes this is the time. "Think you could stand this for the rest of your life?"

"Wha..." She gets out, turning in his arms.

"Kara Thrace will you marry me?" He asks seriously. She stares at him for a handful of heartbeats.

"Why?" She asks knowing she shouldn't. He sighs; realizing he was a fool for thinking this would be easy. "Is that the liquor talking?" He pulls the ring off of his pinky, where its been all night. "Frak, you're serious."

"Because once you told me that I didn't know you well enough to tell you that I wouldn't leave you someday." He kisses her on the nose. "This is me knowing you well enough, loving you deeply enough, to tell you that I'm not leaving you." He sighs as she says nothing, eyes lost in the past. Lost in the time she said yes to Zak. "Kara, stay with me." He pleads. Her eyes refocus on him. "Why wouldn't you marry me?" He counters. She gasps as if he's said something cruel.

"I can think of a million reasons not to."

"Give me one."

"I've only driving you nuts a year now. How can you possibly know that I should be with you for the rest of our lives?"

"How do you know to protect your crew?"

"I dunno. I just do. Instinct."

"That's how I know I want you for the rest of my life. I know I want you. I want you now and I want you forever. I want you to yell at me when I frak up. I want you to punch the guy at the bar for smacking your ass. I want you. I want you to paint our house someday. I want to wake up every morning curled around you because I still can't get enough of your skin. I want you to be part of my family." At some point tears had started falling down his face as he realizes he was going to lose her and he'd just listed all the reasons he didn't want to lose her. She wipes away his tears and moves to lean back into him. They stay that way for hours. Leoben starts to get stiff, but if this was the last time he'd be able to hold her, then he'd just be stiff.

The sky starts to turn pale and Kara realizes they've been on the beach all night but it's not quite dawn yet. She yawns and mills over her decision one last time before speaking.

"I'll think about it." She murmurs with her lips pressed against his arm. I've fallen asleep, he thinks to himself. He flexes his arms around her and realizes he isn't dreaming. He turns her to look at him again.

"I'm sorry, I think I missed that. Could you repeat it?"

"I don't want to say no, but I'm not ready to say yes."

He kisses her feverishly realizing he didn't lose her. He stands up and pulls her with him. "Shall we head back to the house then?" He asks hoping to get some sleep before having to see his family again.

"Sure." She says as they move up the beach. They fall asleep in their clothes holding one another. He tries to stay up and watch her sleep, unbelieving she's still in his arms but sleep quickly takes him over.

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The rest of the week flies by with jokes about Kara's age and she becomes notorious for swearing like a viper jock.

"But I was a viper jock." She comments when Liz scolds her the morning before they're supposed to leave.

"Do you see any vipers sitting around the house?" Liz asks sipping her coffee. Kara laughs.

"Sorry. I forget where I am sometimes." Kara grins taking a sip of her coffee.

"I do believe I will miss all the swearing when you're gone." Liz remarks. "It has been so nice having the two of you here. You really brighten up a place and I haven't seen Obie this happy in years. In fact you're the first girl he's ever brought home." Kara's eyes widen at that comment. "Oh he had a couple of girl friends in school but those didn't last more than a dance or two. And after that he's pretty much been on his own until now. It makes me happy to see someone in his life. Life isn't supposed to just be about working and observing people." She turns back to her paper. Kara looks out the window, unsure why Liz would tell her that or what to do with that information.

"Well I'm glad to be here. Its been great to meet everyone." She says woodenly. Liz turns her attention back to Kara.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I just know my son, and although he might have made a big deal about this I just wanted you to know it means something to me too that you came to meet all of us." Liz is hard to resist. Kara smiles at her and nodded, unsure what she was supposed to do or say.

"He told you, didn't he?" Kara asks softly. Liz reaches over and puts her hand on Kara's.

"Yes but you're still here and you still look at him like he is your world. He would have kicked himself if he hadn't asked. And "not now" is a much better answer than "frak no you cradle robbing bastard"." Liz said seriously. Kara tried not to laugh but couldn't help it.

"Now who's swearing like a viper pilot?" She teases.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I just play with them.

Some months later Kara is walking off her ship, doing the shut down inspection. Its midwinter on Caprica and Kara and her crew are off for a couple weeks leave. The ship is resting nicely in it hold. The tyllium has been drained; everything tied down and cleaned out. She sighs realizing she now has to trudge out into the snow to get home.

Tomorrow is the midwinter festival and Kara still has to pick up her gift for Leoben. She painted a picture of the beach at sunset for him while she was away and had dropped it off at the framer before her last haul. She trudged there now wrapped up from head to toe to keep out the blistering wind and sleet. They double wrap the framed painting and she sets out to try to find a cab in the blizzard. She manages to catch one about 5 blocks from their place but hey its 5 blocks she doesn't have to walk.

"Honey, I'm home." She calls out when she enters their place. It smells of cookies and spiced cider. She takes a large breath and smiles. It's been years since she's had somewhere warm to be on Midwinter festival. Tonight they would dress up and head out to Karl's place for a masked party. Leoben and Kara had both kept their costumes a secret from one another. That was part of the fun of the midwinter festival, the thrill of not knowing who was behind the mask. "Honey, you're cooking." She says sarcastically. He snorts moving around the island in the kitchen to capture her. She's still pulling off articles of wet clothing.

"Lords your cold." He says pulling away from her.

"That happens when it snows." She retorts.

"Are you ready for the party tonight?" He looks her up and down and wonders if they'll even make it out.

"I need a nap and a shower." She states grumpily.

"The invite is for 10 pm but I know Helo would want to see you before then."

"We're dressing there remember?"

"Right. I haven't been to one of these in years." He says wrapping his arms around her now that she's warmer. "So when do you need to leave to get ready?" He jokes, knowing even with the costume she'll be the least fussy about getting ready. She glares up at him. "Go take your nap." He kisses her brow and releases her. She moves up the 3 flights of stairs to their bedroom.

Kara passes out face first into the large bed with all of her clothes on. It's dark when she wakes up and it's disorienting. She realizes she is home and goes to take a shower.

Leoben hears the shower on and sets the table for dinner. He stops in the hall way to look at the package and smiles to himself. He opens the door to his garage and grins even wider to himself looking at the gift he got her.

Half an hour later Kara is wrapped in a robe eating dinner.

"So what misadventures did you have this time?" He asks between bites of food.

"The usual."

"How are things going with training Moose?"

"Good. She can almost knock me on my ass. Not quite but she'll get there. Not entirely sure I should be teaching her that but it's been helping."

"Good."

"How are things at work for you?"

"Oh fine. Busy this time of year. Everyone wants to reconcile with their families. I think it's all the snow that gets people down." They clear the table and Kara begins to get her stuff together.

"Presents now or tomorrow?" He asks almost gleefully.

"Tomorrow I think. Makes it more special. You almost ready to go?" They head out the door around 9:00 pm.

By 10 Kara is tied into her flowing costume, thanks to Sharon. Its black and has ties everywhere and has a matching wig. Kara admires herself in the mirror from side to side before moving over so she and Sharon can apply their make-up. They both laugh at one another as they apply way too much makeup between shots of ambrosia.

In a not so distant room Karl and Leoben sit drinking. Their costumes only required getting redressed, although the masks took another person to secure. Leoben smiles as his mask covers most of his face.

Leoben roams the crowd in Karl's living room. All of the furniture had been moved out so there could be dancing. The costume was a little too warm and he ducks out onto the generous porch that covered both the living room and the bedroom. He looks out and notices a single woman standing at the balcony. He smiles to himself knowing how fond Kara is of watching the city.

"Hi." He says standing next to the woman. Her blond hair waves in the wind, the building taking the bite out of most of the storm. The woman turns to him and he realizes it's not Kara.

"Hi." She says. "I'm guessing, I'm not the person you were hoping for?" She smiles.

"Nope, sorry. If you'll excuse me." He smiles back and goes back inside.

Kara laughs to herself as she watches Leoben and the woman. She adjusts her black wig and smiles_. At least he didn't put his arms around her_, she thinks to herself. She stalks him as he looks for her. He looks at her several times and dismisses the black hair, not getting close enough to the black rimmed eyes to notice it's her. She saunters up to the bar and pours herself another drink. Someone leans against her as they get their own drink. She looks over and recognizes the piercing blue eyes.

"Lee Frakking Adama." She almost shouts. She laughs as he looks around. "What are you doing planet side?" He looks at her very closely.

"I'm sorry, I don't know that we've met." He says oh so politely.

"It's Kara." She says. He squints at her, then recognition dawns on him.

"Oh gods Kara. I didn't recognize you with that wig on."

"Yeah well neither does my date." She makes a face and motions towards the crowd. He laughs.

"You'll kick his ass later for it I suppose."

"If she can find me." Leoben says from Kara's other side. "How did you hide your tattoos?" He asks absentmindedly.

"Took you long enough." She exclaims looping an arm around him. "Let me guess…Ares?" She guesses from the bident he's holding.

"Hades." He says. "You of all people should know Persephone."

"Why are you so good at that?" She asks.

"Talent." He notices Lee is starting to look uncomfortable being around the couple. "Hi, I'm Leoben."

"Oh my, I'm sorry. Lee this is Leoben, Leoben this is Lee." She says with a flourish of her free hand between the two men. "This is Zak's older brother." Lee watches as the recognition hits him.

"Good to meet you." Lee says extending a hand. Leoben shakes it.

"Good to meet you too."

"Lee and I also went to flight school. He was the number two pilot."

Lee looks at Kara questioningly.

"Why yes I was. Although after you take into account grades I was number one." He says. Leoben cracks into an even larger smile.

"The number two pilot that ended up in hack with Kara?" He watches Lee's ear turn red.

"Yes. He's _that_ one." Kara laughs as she watches Lee get even more uncomfortable.

"So Starbuck how's life out of the military?" He tries to rub it in that she got kicked out. She smiles and squeezes Leoben too her a little tighter glad to have him next to her.

"It's pretty good. I've got my own live-in head shrinker and I'm captain of the vessel I joined a few years back."

"Has it really been years?" He asks faintly. She nodes. "Well I'm glad for you."

"How is your dad?" She asks. He doesn't twitch for once.

"He's good. We're good to be more accurate. Got some counseling, it seems to have helped."

"Good. I'm glad for you both." She smiles.

"See honey, we head shrinker are good for all sorts of issues." Leoben pipes up. She tickles him. "Hey." He warns.

"So where are you stationed now?" She asks.

"On Galactic, actually."

"Wow. Your dad must love that. Tell him hi for me." She says wistfully.

"I will. He won't believe that he passed up this party and missed you."

"He can always come visit us when you're in Caprica City." Leoben offers.

"I'll pass the message along." Now Lee looks very uncomfortable. "Well I'm going to go see if I can't find my date. I've lost her now in this crowd. Good to meet you." He moves off.

"Don't even start." She says pouring more ambrosia into her cup.

"You didn't tell me they were brothers." He says evenly. "How did you not get yourself mandatory counseling when you were in the service?"

"I keep my secrets." She says looking at him. "It was only the one time that we got thrown into hack for anyways. Barely worth mentioning." He laughs.

"Alright then, I retract my previous statement." Just then the music starts up. She looks at him.

"Had enough ambrosia to join me?" She teases. He looks at her and tries to breath. She still has the ability to take his breath away.

"Oh sure, why not."

They join in the square dancing. Leoben misses a lot of steps and Kara laughs hysterically as he tries to catch up. After two songs he bows out and sits down to watch her. _Even with all the black make-up around her eyes and the dark wig she still shines_, he thinks to himself.

After many songs Kara bounces over to him and pulls him outside onto the porch so she can cool off. She shivers as the air hits her heated skin and smiles at herself. He looks at her puzzled. She grabs his other hand and brings him to face her.

"Do you think you'd still keep trying to dance with me even when you've got a cane?" She asks with a glint in her eye.

"Absolutely." He says turning serious.

"Good." She says getting down on one knee. He looks at her stunned. "Leoben Conoy, will you marry me?" He opens his mouth to speak and his voice catches the first few times he tries to answer. "Could you hurry? The snow is soaking through the dress." She teases.

"Yes, yes. Absolutely, yes." He says lifting her up into his arms and crushing her to him. She showers kisses on his face until he puts her down. She lifts his hand up and puts the ring on his littlest finger. He looks surprised then beams. He knew she wouldn't do anything the traditional way. He smoothes his hands down either side of her face and kisses her passionately. "Let's go inside before you freeze." He says noticing she's shivering.

The rest of the night they share a secret smile when they're across the room from one another. In the middle of the night, the masks are removed and the alcohol starts flowing even more freely. Leoben and Kara stumble home. They sing and shout and generally cause trouble the whole way home.

They both wake the next morning with wicked hang over. She gets up first and makes the coffee, carrying two cups up the three flights of stairs. They lay in bed for the better part of the day. After napping on and off until mid afternoon, they finally make it down stairs for food. He cooks breakfast while she unwraps one of the plastic bags from around the painting and places it on the table.

"You go first." She says.

"No way. Not after what you did last night at the party. You're getting yours first."

"Are we both going to stand here and refuse to accept the gifts?" She says skeptically.

"Alright, I'll open mine. But next time it's your turn to compromise." He sits at the table and unwraps the painting. He stares at it for a long time. "It's amazing. Truly. You should have become an artist."

"You think?" She says moving to turn the food over so it doesn't burn. She turns it off and serves their breakfast. They eat slowly and she points out the little details she put in that reminded her of his parents' beach house. Once breakfast is cleared he turns to her.

"Your turn. Now close your eyes." He says. She purses her lips and looks at him. "I couldn't find paper big enough." He comments. She reluctantly closes her eyes. He puts a hand over her eyes just in case and leads her out to the garage. He takes his hand off. "Ok, you can open them."

She opens her eyes to find a shiny, new black motorcycle sitting in his empty garage. She looks at him and then the bike. "You're kidding." She states.

"Nope it's all yours." He beams at her. She starts jumping up and down. She runs over and hugs him then moves to sit on the bike.

"It looks fast." She says as her feet barely touch the ground.

"Well I couldn't get a viper, so I thought this would quench your need for speed to some extent." She laughs at that comment and moves off the bike to admire it some more.

"Thank-you. I can't wait to ride it. Hopefully the snow will clear up so I can take it for a spin before I have to be back on the Temptation." She hugs him jubilantly and he carries her inside as his feet start to go numb from the cold garage floor.

They snuggle in front of the TV in their bedroom for the rest of the night. He wraps himself around her and she plays idly with the ring she gave back to him.

"Best midwinter festival ever." He whispers against her brow as they lay intertwined falling asleep that night. She mumbles her approval before drifting off to sleep.

TBC...


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimers: I don't own this characters, I just play with them for a while.

Author's notes: This got very angsty and then a little light at the end. Some of the parts where the characters are jovial may seem out of place but grieving doesn't mean feeling numb or in pain all of the time. In fact it is common to laugh in the face of horrific tragedy. Sure you feel bad about it after but it still happens. Also I skipped a lot of time because I could honestly write and write on this for the rest of my life but I'd like to have an ending for it sooner rather than when I'm 100. Enjoy!

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Two months later they get married on the beach on Arelon. Kara's side is a little sparse but her crew is there and Karl and Sharon manage to make it for the reception. It's a small wedding, as they promise to love and cherish each other the rest of the days of their lives.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Two years later…

Kara runs her fingers through her hair, frustrated. She's locked herself in her office, knowing she should go out and comfort the crew; she's just not up for that yet. The last haul was going relatively well, until one of the passengers who hadn't lost consciousness yet had started shooting at them. Moose had taken a shot in the chest and bled out before they could even move her. She sighs and gets up to go talk to her crew. Sure her husband would help deal with the grief, as he was a permanent part of their crew now but she was the captain.

The deck is a mess when Kara gets there. Copper and Music Man are fighting over who's fault the shooting is, Skid is crying quietly to herself and Leoben is trying to comfort her. Kara looks around at the disorder with dismay.

"It's my fault." She says brusquely over the yelling of the two men. They both stop to look at her. "I was her captain. It was my responsibility to keep her safe and I failed. It's my fault."

Leoben looks at her with reproach from across the deck; she shrugs at him and turns back to the body of their dead crewman. _How could someone who was such a pain in the ass get to me?_ Kara thought as she felt the sting of tears. She hated crying and she hated crying even more in front of her crew, but she couldn't help it. Tears began to roll down her face and she said good-bye to the smallest member of her crew and the largest pain in the ass.

"I'm not sure what to say. Moose, you weren't easy to get along with. I'm sorry we didn't properly clear the ship before you came on. I'm sorry you'll never get to shoot anything but targets with your tiny gun and your explosive rounds. You deserve a more dignified death." Kara turned away from the body trying to breath. Copper and Leoben stepped up and each said something much more poetic, but Kara was lost in thought by that point. She only came back to the present when Leoben touched her shoulder. She looked at him and even though he was standing there touching her she felt very far away from everything around her.

"Captain Thrace to the command deck." Hammer's voice boomed over the ship. Kara starts, not even realizing Hammer wasn't with them. She looks over puzzled at her XO. She walks hastily to the command deck.

"What is it Hammer?" She looks at her comm. personnel.

"Sir, we're getting strange reports on the chatter."

"Why type of reports?" She asks taking the read out. She reads it three times before speaking again. "This can't be right."

"It's all over the wireless. Almost every ship reporting the same thing."

"Prepare the FTL." She shouts as she runs back to her office to get the star charts.

"We're going to Arelon."

"Then what sir?" Hammer looks like she's been sucker punched.

"Then we try to find a colonial battlestar and see if we can't hide in her skirts until this is over. Actually, here." She rights down the transceiver code for Galactica; she'd committed the code to memory when Zak had first died and his father had wanted her to join his crew. "See if you can contact this battlestar on the wireless." Kara calculated the best jump to Arelon. She gets onto the speaker and announces the jump. After the count down and jump Leoben and Copper join her on the command deck.

"Frak." Kara and Hammer both swear as the dradis is lit up with ships. It doesn't take long before some of the blips are heading right for them. She promptly looks back at her charts. Kara calculates another jump, perhaps not the safest jump but it should work she prayed as she punches in the coordinates. She watched as signals were getting closer and closer to them on drais and swore.

"Frak." She doesn't announce the jump; she just jumps out of the Arelon system.

"What is going on?" Copper asks. Kara shoves the print out at him. She checks drais; nothing. She turns to Hammer.

"Anything?" She asks.

"No sir. Nothing on the comm. even." Hammer confirms.

"Alright. I'm going to calculate another jump. I don't know how long we can stay here."

"Where is here?" One of them asks.

"The outer limit of Sagitarron territory."

"Starbuck, what is going on?" Leoben asks. Her head snaps up. He never calls her by her call sign. He knows something is wrong. _Not that you could miss that something was going terribly wrong, _she thinks before answering him.

"The cylons have attacked the twelve colonies."

"What?" Copper and Leoben say.

"That's what you just saw on drais coming right at us. Cylons. Lots of them."

"Where did we jump to the first time?" Leoben looks suspicious.

"That was Arelon space." She chokes out.

"Oh gods."

"What? How could they attack all twelve colonies at the same time?" Copper asks stunned. The printout falls to the ground.

"Shouldn't we check the other colonies?" Leoben asks. Kara had already thought about that. The read out clearly stated that all of the colonies were under attack. It had been extremely reckless to jump into Arelon space but she couldn't help herself. After years of not having any siblings or family to speak of Leoben's family had managed to worm their way into her heart. They were her family now. So she'd jumped to Arelon knowing it was likely the stupidest idea she'd had in her entire life.

"All the reports are the same. I've got Hammer trying to find Galactica or any other colonial battlestars. The report says they've nuked Caprica City." She almost whispers. The weight of the information hitting her as she speaks it out loud and she goes blank for the second time that day.

"Kara." Leoben says quietly coming up to stand in front of her. She doesn't respond. "Kara!" He says louder placing his hands on her shoulders. She looks up at him. "Where would the military go in this situation?" She stops panicking and thinks. If any of the ships had gotten away they would need supplies, especially weapons if they were planning to get into the fight. Most of the battlestar's weren't equipped with many nukes, since no one had even seen a cylon in over fifty years.

"There are a few remote storage facilities."

"Ok. Which is the best hidden or fortified?" He asks.

"Ragnar Anchorage." She breathes.

"Do you know where it is?" He asks.

"Of course."

"Would they have moved it?"

"No. It's well hidden." She punches in the jump coordinates. Once they complete the jump they face the problem of getting into the nebula. Kara vaguely remembers there being 9 turns but she doesn't have the map, the entire base is supposed to be a military secret.

"This is going to be difficult." She says sitting down at navigation. The drais would warn her if she was going to hit the gas cloud but she would have to be going very slow for the drais to pick up a solid signal instead of the interference the nebula spews out.

"I need someone to map the turns I make so we can get out of here faster than we're going in." Copper steps up and takes a chart to the command consul.

"Hammer or Leoben, would you go take stock of everything we have? If we don't find someone out here, we're going to need to start rationing."

"I will." Hammer volunteers.

"I will go alert the rest of the crew." Leoben says quietly.

It takes Kara and Copper three hours to navigate all of the twists and turns of the nebula. In the end Copper has a nice map of the entrance.

"Thank-you." She says looking at the chart. "Now I have to dock and hope to gods my entry code isn't rejected." She utters knowing it should be. They dock and find that her code is indeed invalid.

"Now what?" Copper asks.

"Now we wait."

"For how long?" He asks.

"Maybe a couple days. If someone doesn't come by then, they're not going to come."

Kara moves around the ship, which is silent. The motor is shut down; the crew is lost in their own thoughts. The halls echo eerily as she opens the hatch to her room. Leoben is lying on their bed staring at the ceiling. She had hoped he would be asleep. He doesn't move as she enters the room. She can barely tell he's breathing. She crosses the room and sits on the bed.

He lays there knowing he should talk to his wife, but he can't figure what to say. _The worlds have ended, there isn't anything to say,_ his psychiatrist mind taking over the emotional side. Their species is gone, possibly all of them except the few on the ship. She lies down next to him and stares at the ceiling not really seeing anything before her eyes.

The names and faces come flooding back to her. The faces of the dead. She sighs, willing the tears to flow but they don't. She's still numb. She can feel that her world will turn inside of itself before long but for now she is just numb. She can't even feel the heat of the man besides her.

Neither of the people in the small room on Temptation are in the room with one another, they're both experiencing another place and another time. The melancholy clings to them like a cold mist, making the world they have left, seem small and uninviting.

Several hours later, or maybe minutes, Kara is unsure, the comm. buzzes. "Captain Thrace to the command deck." Hammer's voice resonates out over the loud speaker breaking the silence of the small room.

Kara gets up and moves silently to the command deck.

"Sir, Galactica is on the line." Hammer says handing off the head set. Kara sighs in relief. At least someone survived, she thought to herself.

"Galactica, this is Captain Thrace of Temptation. Go ahead."

"Good to hear your voice captain." A raspy voice says.

"You too sir. I figured someone would come here. Can you tell me the sitrep?"

Admiral Adama pauses briefly. "I'm sure you've heard reports."

"The last we heard Caprica City was nuked." She states in confirmation.

"Yes, as well as every major city on all twelve colonies. We're here to stock up and then run."

"Excuse me sir, did you say run?" She askes stunned.

"Yes Starbuck. It has been pointed out that with so many lives at stake it isn't feasible to launch an assault on the cylons."

"How many lives were saved?" She asks.

"We're still getting a tally. We've got the President of the Colonies on board, ultimately it was her decision."

"I understand. Tell us what you need."

"We need inventory of your ship and personnel. I'm going to ask that you come over to Galactica, as we are short pilots. It's going to be a hell of a fire fight when we have to leave."

"You were followed."

"Yes, we're sure of it. We'll send a raptor over. Galactica out." The line goes dead. She stares at the comm. for a long while after the conversation is over.

"Sir?" Hammer says.

"I've been ordered to Galactica. We're going to leave Ragnar Anchorage shortly. Page the crew to the mess so I can announce what is going on."

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Kara jumps off the raptor onto the flight deck and takes in the scenery. She grabs one of the deck hands and asks where the CAG's office is. They point her in a direction, irritated, and then scramble off to get the vipers ready. She squeezes through the crowded halls, lined with refugees. She beats on the door of the CAG's office and waits.

"Come in." She hears from the other side. She opens the hatch to find one Lee Adama waiting for her. She smiles.

"Captain Conoy." He begins.

"It's still Thrace." She corrects him.

"Captain Thrace" He amends looking annoyed, "As you were kicked out of the military but still pilot a ship you have been given an honorary title of captain. Don't let it go to your head. You will not be in charge of anyone until further notice, is that clear?"

"Sir, yes sir." She says snapping to attention.

"Good. Go find a flight suit." He goes back to his paperwork. "Oh and Starbuck?" She turns half way out of the hatch. "It's good to have you." She smiles.

"Good to see you too Lee. I'll see you out there."

Kara walks slowly to the pilot prep room to find a flight suit. There are butterflies in her stomach as if she's a rook. _You are_, she screams inside of her head. She hasn't flown a viper in 4 years. She brushes the thought off and tries to find her flight crew. The deck chief ignores her and she looks to the roster to see where her bird is. Her flight crew is slowly making their way around the bird when she arrives. No one notices her.

"HEY!" She barks. They all stop and look at her. "I MAY NOT BE IN CHARGE OF YOU BUT YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF THIS BIRD, SO GET A MOVE ON, WE'RE AT WAR." She calls out realizing the years away did nothing to quiet her temper at slow moving deck hands. She frowns as one of the deck hands gives her the preflight check. She moves around the mark II and examines her. Defiantly a her, she decides. She is checking off the ground observations when the chief comes over.

"You got a problem with my crew _captain_ Thrace?" He says with much venom.

"Yes, sir." She says saluting him. "They're not going to have this bird ready to launch on time if they don't get a move on."

"I doubt anyone would miss you up there." He says between his teeth. She grimaces at him.

"Get a good seat in the observation deck chief, you'll need it." She salutes and climbs the ladder to finish her preflight. She hands the list to the deck hand as they give her the interlock collar for her helmet. She takes her time putting on the helmet and closing the hatch. They manage to get her viper in position in excruciatingly slow motion. _Was it always this slow?_ She thinks. _No, its just the excitement_, she decides.

"Green?" The LSO asks.

"All green." She agrees. She can feel the maglock move into position. The thrust forwards is brief and she can feel the force on her body; she yells as she comes out.

"Starbuck, Apollo. Keep it together." He warns her. _Wow, he's turned into a hard ass_, she thinks to herself.

"Aye, aye commander." She tries to keep the sarcasm out of her voice and fails. She speeds off ahead of Galactica. The cylons launch raiders as they try to intercept the fleet. Kara tries not to think about Copper trying to orchestrate the FTL jump to the next coordinates. She'd given him and Hammer a crash course in calculating jumps. Lt. Gaeta had sent over the coordinates but that didn't mean they couldn't screw them up. She shook her head, _they're a good crew,_ she tells herself then turned her focus to staying in formation for once.

"All squadrons, weapons free." Lee's voice came over the comm.. Kara moves to follow her squad.

"Starbuck, Minus. You got my wing?" A man's voice came over her comm..

"Absolutely." She follows her wingman as they break left.

"I heard you were crazy back in the day that true?" He asks as the raiders were closing on them.

"Still am crazy." She retorts laughing.

"Alright I break right you go left and try to keep up." He says taking aim at the first raider to come towards them. Kara waits until the raider is closer to open fire. The raider doesn't seem to have the ability to stay with her erratic flying. After destroying a few cylons she hears Minus voice come over her comm.. "Starbuck, I got one on me I can't shake, where are you?" Minus almost shouts. She maneuvers herself so the raider she was chasing is now following her. She sways back and forth catching up to Minus and his cylon. The raider following Kara hits the raider in front of her. She opens fire on the raider on Minus and immediately throws her thrusters to turn on her pursuing cylon and shoots it until it explodes into little tiny pieces around her.

"Damn, they were right about you." Minus says laughing. "Let's go get more."

"All squadrons return to Galactica. Combat landings authorized." Apollo commands. Starbuck makes her way around the debris, while tagging a few remaining cylons on her way in. They barely touch down before Galactica jumps.

Finally down on the flight deck again, Kara finishes her post flight check and turns off her bird. She smiles then frowns, not her bird. She was just barrowing it.

"You don't look as happy as I thought you would." Karl says leaning against the ladder.

"Oh I'm fan-frakking-tastic, but I just realized that it's likely a one time offer." She sighs and hands the deck hand her helmet and collar.

"It's the end of the worlds Kara. I'm sure they'll let you fly any time the cylons pop by." She hops down the ladder and unzips the uncomfortable flight suit. "I'm sure that's one thing you didn't miss."

"I actually did miss the swamp ass." They both laugh as they embrace.

"Starbuck?" A young man walks over and interrupts their reunion.

"Starbuck." She confirms standing up.

"Minus." He says putting his hand out. "Great wingman. I've never seen flying like that." Kara nods and shakes his hand. "And they were right, you are crazy!"

"Thanks. I haven't been called crazy by anyone except Leoben in a few years, feels good." She wags her eyebrows at Karl.

"Ready for some military debauchery?" Karl asks.

"I have to report to the CAG and Admiral right after I hit the head, maybe once I'm done there? Assuming they don't kick me off the ship."

"You know where to find me." Karl says taking off. Minus follows Kara to the shower recounting all of her kills. _He's like a kid_, even though Kara is sure he's older than she is. He doesn't even stop talking when she starts to strip down and gets in the shower.

"You're a regular chatter bug, aren't you?" She asks over the stall.

"What? Oh, not usually."

"Someone's got a fan." Lee says walking into the stall next to Kara.

"I'm not a fan."

"Did you even notice she undressed?" Lee asks. Minus turns bright red. "I didn't think so." Minus moves off to get undressed and join in the shower. He stops recounting the battle and starts asking questions. Obnoxious questions.

"Listen, Minus. You did well, but I haven't sleep in two days and I don't want to talk about me right now. I want to get clean and see what Mr. CAG and the Admiral want and then I'd like to crawl into a bunk and pass the frak out. I'll be around, you can ask me later." She finishes rinsing off and moves to dry off.

"I brought clothes for you Kara. They're on the bench there." Lee points to a pile of clean clothes.

"Thanks Lee." She says shocked. She was just going to put on whatever she'd brought with her from Temptation. The pants are a little too big but she ties the draw string and zips up the sweatshirt. "I'll see you at your father's quarters, I have to go see if the comm. officer will get my ship on wireless for me." She moves out of the head and towards the CIC. When she realizes she's not allowed in the CIC she heads for the admirals office.

The marine at the door pounds on the hatch and waits. They wait a good few minutes before the admiral opens the door himself.

"Captain Thrace." He says moving in. "Shut the hatch." His voice is gruff. Kara smiles. She complies then stands at attention. "Oh please Kara, get over here and give me a hug." He says smiling at her posture. He wraps her in a hug and says, "Your salute is a little lacking." She laughs and pulls away.

"I'll have to start practicing."

"Did you enjoy flying today?"

"Always sir."

"Good."

"Can I ask what this is about sir?"

"Have a seat Kara. I'll tell you and Lee at the same time, save myself some trouble."

"He'll be along soon. He was in the head."

"Sorry I missed your wedding."

"Duty calls. I understand. We have pictures onboard Temptation."

"Speaking of your ship, how did you get such a large shipment of ambrosia?"

"Luck." She smiles knowing full well what he is implying. Both he and Lee suspected Kara had fallen in with the wrong crowd but neither had ever asked her outright. "So what happens to it? Does the fleet as a whole commandeer it?"

"I've been speaking to the president. We're unsure what to do with foodstuff and liquor as money is meaningless. We'll think of something. In the meantime just don't drink all of it." He smiles. There is knock on the door. It's Lee in his dress blues. She smiles missing the feel of the stiff fabric as she moved.

"Admiral, Starbuck." He salutes his father.

"Son sit down. We need to have a little discussion." Lee and Kara look at each other then back to the admiral. "Yes, it is probably what both of you are thinking. I have decided to reinstate you Starbuck."

"Sir." She says seriously.

"We lack pilots. And better yet we lack flight instructors. I know you felt responsible for Zak but from the reports I've read, up to your court marshal, you were an exceptional instructor. I'm promoting you to captain, as it is what you have been to your crew for over two years now. I assume taking a new batch of nuggets won't even make you bat an eye after having a crew for a few years."

"Thank-you, sir."

"So Lee, you'll have the dubious honor of matching Starbuck up with a wingman and scraping together a batch of nuggets to train."

"Minus seemed quite taken with you." Lee teased. She makes a face. "I'll look at the CAP rotation."

"Oh sir. What about my husband? Do I just leave him on the Temptation?"

"For now, unless he wants to live in the bunk room with you?" The admiral jokes.

"Doubtful sir, very doubtful. Permission to tell him in person?" She asks.

"Granted. Four hours to gather your stuff and report to your CO." The admiral says. She turns to Lee and salutes.

"See you in four hours CO." She laughs and climbs through the hatch.

TBC...


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I just play with them. \

She steps off of the raptor onto the docking bay of Temptation. Leoben stands as he sees her and walks swiftly up to gather her in his arms. He breathes her in and sighs. _Knowing someone is alive and holding them are two very different feelings_ he thinks before releasing her.

"Nice work on the jump guys." She says. They grin at her.

"Wish we could have seen you fly." Skid comments. Kara looks at her, she rarely comments on any topic.

"Maybe you can come see the gun film. It should be developed by tomorrow."

"So what happens to all of us now?" Copper asks.

"I'm not really sure. Evidently there was a lady who was sworn in as the president so she and the admiral will be deciding what happens. For now we keep our haul but the fleet will be dry before long and that will sell for steep prices so I'd like the haul rationed."

"How was flying?" Hammer asks.

"Great. And on that note I need to talk to my husband." She says pulling him by the hand. There are cat calls and Kara grimaces wishing she was dragging him off for what they were thinking. When the hatch is securely closed she turns to him and he is on her. He presses her against the hatch, pressing his lips against hers. She responds and lets him carry her to the bed. After a moment she breaks away and looks at him, knowing if he continues she won't remember why they need to talk.

"Leoben, we need to talk." She says the four deadly words of any relationship.

"Uh-oh." He says moving to sit on the bed. "That phrase is almost never followed with something good."

"Well it's good in a way." She bites her bottom lip. His face falls.

"They've reinstated you." He says hollowly.

"Yes."

"And you said yes." He makes it a statement. She nods. He moves out of arms reach. "I understand in some ways, in other selfish ways I don't understand this at all." He moves back to kneel at the side of the bed. "I love you. I now flying makes you happy. I just don't want to wake up without you." He says softly and puts his head in her lap. She strokes his head and sighs.

"Well technically you can come stay in the bunk room but there will be about 13 other people there." She says.

"Um, no thanks." He says looking at their bed and around their quarters. "I can hold down the fort." His eyes drift in and out of thought. "How will I get to see you?"

"You're welcome to visit Galactica any time there is a raptor in the area. I should have one day off a week to come home."

"Kara." He admonishes knowing she'll never have a day off. After a long silence Kara speaks.

"I'll work to get us a place on Galactica if you'd like?"

"Yes, I'd like that." He pauses. "Why do you have to do this?" He asks suddenly lifting his head and taking her hands in his. She looks down into his grey blue eyes and sighs.

"You know why." She warns. She doesn't like where this conversation is heading.

"Say it." He pleads. "I need you to say it."

"Because I need to kill something to make this feel better. Because I need to hurt something for killing your family. Because I need to feed the vengeful side of my psyche right now." She grits her teeth as she admits to feeling murderous, even if they are just toasters.

"Thank-you." He says putting his head back down in her lap.

"Don't you feel the same way?" She asks pulling his head up so she can look into his eyes.

"Absolutely. I just don't know 15 ways to kill a man with a chopstick." He looks at her seriously for a moment then breaks into a grin at his joke. "Just bare with me for a while. It may take me a while to adjust to having you off ship again." She nods.

"I'll miss you." She says quietly.

"I'll miss you too." He moves up to kiss her and rolls them both onto the bed. They lay facing each other for a long while. Leoben moves his hand across her cheek absentmindedly as he tries not to think about how little he'll see his wife.

"Well I should go tell the crew." She sighs. Leoben joins her. It takes a while to round up the whole crew. They look at her expectantly.

"Well, this is really hard to say so I'll just blurt it out. I've been reinstated in the military." The crew collectively frowns. "I used to be a flight instructor, which is what I will be doing onboard Galactica. They don't have anyone else at this point."

"What happens to us then?" Hammer pipes up.

"Copper will be your captain. I will have more chances to interact with the admiral and president on your behalf than any other ship in the fleet. It could be a huge benefit, as long as I don't abuse it."

"What happens with Leoben? Will he go with you or stay here?" Music Man asks.

"I'll be staying here for now." Leoben says. They all look shocked at that. The captain and her husband were nearly inseparable since they'd been married.

"You guys can come visit every now and again."

"Will you get leave?" Skid asks.

"I doubt it, but maybe eventually." She sighs heavily. "Well I have to report back to Galactica in an hour." She turns to leave the mess. Hammer comes up and hugs Kara, then Skid and before she knows it her entire crew is surrounding her. She smiles and tries not to lose it. They eventually release her and move off to continue their jobs on the ship.

Kara trudges back to her quarters to pack up a little stuff with Leoben hot on her heels. She realizes she has hardly anything to pack. A deck of cards, a tooth brush, her scriptures, a picture of her and Leoben on their wedding day, a hair brush, and some under garments. Her bag looks woefully empty as she pulls the draw string shut. Leoben pulls her into a hug. She presses her face against his shirt and breathes him in.

"Can I have this?" She asks pulling at his shirt. He smiles.

"Only if you trade me."

"But mine won't fit you."

"So?"

"Alright." She strips her tee shirt off and hands it off to him as he does the same. She shoves it in her bag and moves to get another shirt.

They walk slowly back to the docking bay where the raptor is waiting for Kara. She hugs Leoben one last time and kisses him passionately. They both know that every time she goes out in her viper to kill cylons she might not come back; neither of them voice this.

She gives him one last lingering look before closing the hatch and moving to pilot the raptor back to Galactica.

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Two months later…

Kara stands at the front of the briefing room staring at the newest batch of nuggets. _Frak they're young_, she thinks to herself. They had started off with forty recruits and only ten had made it through boot camp. Lee hadn't wanted to force the nuggets to do boot camp until Kara pointed out how much force they would be putting on their bodies while flying a viper. Some of the recruits that hadn't made it to vipers had made it to raptors. They were in Athena's class.

She smirked as the nuggets sat and waited for her. Today they were going over the basics of how a ship flew. Some of them already knew but she doubted that many of them had ever piloted hands on since almost all ships were hands free. Some of the nuggets started to whisper between themselves.

"Excuse me? Would you like to share that?" Starbuck asks.

"No sir." The young man says seriously.

"I'm sorry did I imply you had a choice recruit?"

"I was just wondering when we were actually going to get to fly, sir."

"Petty officer Marker, can you tell me the four principles flying?"

"Thrust, pitch and roll, sir."

"I asked for four. And that's why you won't be near a viper in a very long time."

Most of the rest of the class was spent going over the principles of flight and how they affect the movement of the viper. After a few hours the class was dismissed so they could report for more basic with Commander Adama. She sighed and got ready for CAP. She was flying with Minus today. She smiled at the thought, he'd calmed down a lot since their initial meeting.

The first few hours of CAP were delightfully uneventful. Starbuck and Minus bantered back and forth about the up coming Triad tournament later that night. As they were completing a rotation at the far end of the fleet Starbuck picked up motion on her dradis.

"Galactica, Starbuck. We've got a squadron of cylon raiders inbound." She reports to the battleship.

"Affirmative Starbuck. Launching all squadrons. Two minutes to intercept. Fleet status green. Fleet to commence jump in one minute." Petty officer Dualla's voice chimes in her ear. "Hold 'em off as long as you can. Good hunting."

"Will do. Starbuck out." She says. "You ready for this Minus?"

"Always." He states moving to her right.

"Bet you I'll get more than you."

"What are you betting?"

"Latrine duty for the next week."

"You're on." Minus says.

They're on an even kill count when another squadron of cylons jumps in. "Oh frak." Starbuck swears as she is in the middle of the squadron. She barely has time to shoot the cylon right in front of her before it runs into her.

"I don't think they expects us." Minus comments blasting through a few more cylons. The raiders scatter as they realize the enemy is in their midst. Starbuck follows two as they sprint off towards the fleet with the last few ships prepping to jump. She swears and accelerates as fast as she can. She takes one out but the other has time to launch missiles before she gets it. She tries desperately to catch the missile. She manages to hit it and it explodes but is too close to the Olympic Carrier. The shrapnel slams into the Carrier.

"Frak! Galactica, Starbuck. One of the raiders managed to get a missile off towards the Olympic Carrier. I got the missile but the shrapnel still impacted the side. Send help when we've all completed the jump."

"Rodger that Starbuck." Galactica confirms. The other squadrons have now joined Starbuck and Minus. Two minutes later they're recalled to prepare for jump now that the fleet is away.

Once back on Galactica Starbuck and Minus report to the CAG's office to give report before they've even changed out of their flight suits. They'll have to write up their combat report later but with casualties they have to report verbally first. Starbuck grimaces knowing the casualties are her fault.

"Sir." Starbuck and Minus say in unison standing at attention just inside the CAG's office.

"Report." He says sternly.

"One squadron jumped in at the far end of the fleet. Engaged the enemy successfully keeping all raiders away from the fleet. Second squadron of raiders jumped right on top of us. Two jumped in behind us. I pursued and got both of them but not before the second one launched a missile at the Olympic Carrier. I managed to hit the missile but the shrapnel hit the Carrier, sir." Starbuck reported since she was the senior officer.

"Where were you?" Commander Adama turns his attention to Minus.

"Engaging the other cylons in the squadron. Those two were the only ones that jumped in behind us. Starbuck was in pursuit. No reason to follow her and allow more raiders to get closer to the fleet, sir." He said, taking a tone with the uptight CAG.

"Sir, how many casualties?" Starbuck asks.

"Four civilians." He says clenching his jaw. "You're supposed to be paying attention, not betting on who can kill more cylons." He shouts at them.

"Sir, the cylons jumped in behind us. What exactly were we supposed to do?" Starbuck retorts. He's pissed her off now, which helps with the guilt.

"Be better pilots!"

"Frak you Lee Adama. I'd like to see what you would have done." He steps up nose to nose with her. "You think you could have anticipated that another squadron would jump in? You psychic now? Can you make your viper accelerate faster than mine? Can shoot straighter or better than I can? NO YOU CAN'T. So I ask again, what the frak would you have done differently?" She steps into his personal space more than he already has stepped into hers. They stare at each other for a moment.

"Minus, you're dismissed." Lee says quietly. "And shut the hatch." Minus leaves his CO and Starbuck, closing he hatch. He thinks about listening and then decides he might end up in hack if he gets caught so he goes to hit the head.

"You're grounded, Starbuck." He says just as quietly.

"Fine, you're the CAG."

"Damn right I am. You don't get to tell me to frak myself in front of anyone. No I take that back, you don't get to tell me to frak off at all."

"Then don't question my decisions in front of anyone. You know full well there wasn't a damn thing Minus or I could have done better, sir. You go watch the gun footage and tell me how close I came to running into a frakking cylon that jumped right in front of me. You tell me exactly what I was supposed to do sir. I was commanded to engage the cylons. It didn't say anywhere that I had to save every last person in this fleet." She was very angry now. "We're at war. I didn't do this. If you want to be mad at someone, fine just don't make me an escape goat."

There was a knock on the CAG's door. "One minute." Lee shouts. "You're on twelve hour maintenance starting, oh now. When you're not on maintenance, you'll be teaching. Is that understood, Kara?" He throws her first name out like it's a swear.

"Sir, yes sir." She steps back and salutes.

"I want that report before class tomorrow. Dismissed." He says moving around to sit at his desk again.

Kara passes by one of the raptor pilots when she exits. She doesn't bother to get cleaned up since she'll be elbow deep in grease in a few minutes. She stalks off to find the deck chief.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile Leoben finds himself listening over the wireless to a patient. When word got out that there was a psychiatrist on the Temptation calls started to come in almost constantly. He was writing down the latest problem one of the fleet captains was having with her crew when he was blinded by a sharp pain behind his eyes.

"I'm sorry Captain Julia. I'm going to have to cut this short, we're getting a transmission from Galactica." He lies. She hangs up as does he. He clamps his hands on either side of his temples and squeezes his eyes shut just before he blacks out.

Hours later Leoben wakes up on the floor of his and Kara's quarters on the Temptation. He flexes his body, feeling that everything is different. His eyes seem to move faster than usual. _What the frak_, he thinks to himself. He gets up off the floor and reaches for the glass of water sitting on bedside table. He flexes his grip around it and it shatters into little pieces, some of them embedding themselves in his hand. He stares down in shock as the blood starts to ooze out of the cuts. He pulls the shards out and goes to find some bandages.

Before he can find bandages, he starts to hear voices in his head. Thousands of voices. He can't concentrate. He sits on the bed, not caring that he's getting blood everywhere. Suddenly one voice becomes very clear.

"_Come home to us Leoben_." The voices whispers as though someone is right next to him. He flinches and looks around the room. No one is there. "_We will come for you_. _You will be one with us again_." He realizes the voices sounds like his own, when he's heard recordings of himself. He flinches inwardly. What had Kara told him last month? The cylons looked like humans now. His stomach churns and he empties the contents of his stomach on the floor. _No!_ He thinks fervently. "_Yes_." Say the voices collectively inside his head. "I'm human!" He screams.

"_No you're not. You've known all along_." The voices chime.

"I'm hearing things. I'm lost in space, my wife is on another ship and the reality of the annihilation of my species is just catching up." He says out loud.

"_You were a key part in that destruction. Or at least your model was, perhaps not you in particular_."

"Oh gods." He whispers. "I wouldn't be part of it. My family, my friends. No, I don't believe it." He gets up to clean up the mess he's been making, trying to distract himself from the voices. He puts the bandages on and paces in the small space. "What am I going to do?" he whispers.

"_Come home_."

"I am home."

"_No you're not_." He squeezes his eyes shut and tries to drown out the voices with his own thoughts. Thoughts about Kara, about his family, about enjoying Caprica. It doesn't work. He lays down on the bed and curls into a ball.

He stays that way for days.

Finally Hammer calls Kara.

She notices the smell first as she enters the room. He hasn't moved for days, not even to eat or go use the facilities.

"Copper, Hammer. Help me lift him so I can get rid of these sheets." She says pulling two of her old crew into their quarters. The hold him up as she pulls the sheets off and takes them to the incinerator. "Thanks." She says when she returns. "If you'd leave us now?" she makes it a question instead of a request. They frown but leave nonetheless. She pulls him into a sitting position and pulls his shirt off, then works his shoes, socks, underwear and pants off. She puts everything in a bag and ties it off leaving him naked on the bed while she takes the clothes to the incinerator. When she returns he is curled in a ball again. She sits him up and slips an arm around his waist as she pulls his arm around her shoulders. She stumbles to the bathroom and leans him against the cold wall as she turns the shower on.

She tries not to think about the fact that she'll enjoy a hot shower. Its too hard with him as comatose as he is. He blinks at her, and that's the only way she knows he actually isn't in a coma. Once the water is warm, she steps into the shower, holding him around the waist. She can't hold him up and wash him at the same time so she lowers him to the floor of the shower, leaning him against the wall. She kneels down with a wash cloth. She moves the wash cloth up and down his body, scrubbing every place she can reach.

At some point she begins to cry and she's not even sure what happened to him. _He's usually so strong and steady_, the thought chases its way across her mind. _What the hell happened? _She thinks. She moves to sit in front of him in the shower. He blinks at her.

"Leoben?" She tries, no response. "What happened?"

He is looking at her and hears her but the voices in his head drown out so much of what she says. The look of concern worries him but still he cannot force his body to react. He's numb. Completely numb. He blinks as the water is getting into his eyes and says nothing. His body screams for hers and still he cannot move. He feels broken, hollow, empty, lost and even the site of her does little to comfort him.

She places her hands on his shoulders and shakes him. Still nothing. She washes his hair methodically, keeping the bubbles from running into his eyes. She stands him up to make sure all of the soapy residue slides off of him before she turns the shower off. She sits him back down and steps out of the shower to find a towel. She comes back and towels his hair off first before moving the rough cloth around his back and down his arms. She lifts him again and moves him out of the shower. She manages to make it to the bed before collapsing. She moves the towel down his legs and dries the rest of him off.

"You're still wet." He comments absentmindly. She's not even sure he's aware that he just said something.

"I don't care." She whispers. She slips pants and a shirt on before moving him to the floor so she can flip the mattress. She moves to the closet to get another set of sheets before she moves him back to the bed. He stays sitting and she nods noticing the slight improvement. "I'm going to go get you some food." She says smoothing her hand down his neck. She leaves him naked on the clean sheets and goes to the mess.

"How is he?" Hammer asks. Copper and Floyd try not to pay attention and fail horribly.

"I'm not sure. He doesn't respond when I speak to him. I'm hoping a little food and water will help with that." She moves around the mess. "Do we have oat meal or something he doesn't have to chew?" She asks. Copper moves to get a pack of rationed oatmeal. She sighs and prepares it, then takes a glass and fills it with water. "Thanks for calling me. I've told the commander I'll be here until further notice."

"They let you do that?" Hammer looked at her incredulously.

"Let might be too strong of a word." They all look at her with their mouths open.

"What are they going to do? Kick me out? Fat chance. I might end up in hack for a few days. Been there, done that." She moves back to their quarters.

Leoben is still sitting up on the bed when she enters. She almost smiles until she realizes that he has tears streaking down his face. She moves onto the bed and behind him, wrapping herself around him.

"Tell me what happened." She whispers stroking his hair. "You can tell me." She says soothingly, moving around to face him with the bowl of oatmeal in her lap.

"Too much, too much. Can't say." He rambles. She takes the spoon and pushes it past his lips. She watches as he swallows the oatmeal and tries another bite. After twenty minutes she has forced most of the bowl and all of the water on him. He begins to cry afresh as his eyes focus on her. She notes that he is actually taking notice of her.

"I love you." She says.

"I l-l-love you." He says between sobs. She nods and moves her arms around him.

"Tell me what happened." She says again. He nods then falls back onto the bed, taking her with him. Before she realizes it, he is asleep. She sighs and snuggles close to her husband, taking in the scent of his clean skin. She closes her eyes and tries to sleep; it doesn't come for a very long time.

Leoben wakes the next morning staring at his wife. The voices have a hush over themselves. He sighs, and accidentally wakes her. Her eyes fly open at the sound of someone in bed with her. She looks into his blue eyes and smiles, then frowns remembering the previous day.

"Hi." She says.

"Hi." He says back.

"How are you?"

"Better." The silence stretches on. Kara doesn't want to push him back into the comatose state he was in.

"What happened?" She asks moving her body closer to his. He feels her warmth and wonder if he gives off the same warmth. How could he? If he's a machine, how could he give off heat?

"Can you feel the heat of my body?" He asks.

"Of course." She states, puzzled that he would ask such a question.

"Kara, I…I don't know where to start."

"Ok." She says shrugging. He looks into her eyes and stroke his hand across her face, afraid that it will be the last time he's able to do so once he admits what he has come to understand about himself.

"A few days ago I got off the wireless and a migraine hit me. I blacked out for a while."

"Oh." She says, not knowing where he is heading with the story.

"That's not the end." He states. They lay in silence for a very long time. He sighs and continues. "When I woke I went to pick up a glass and it shattered in my hand."

"Ok." She says unsure of what response she should have.

"And then the voices started." He gasps out.

"What voices?" She looks suspicious. _Perhaps the head shrinker has finally lost it_, she thinks briefly before squashing it.

"My voice, only a thousand times over." She looks puzzled still.

"What did they say?" He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, not prepared to admit this yet but knowing he has to.

"That I'm a cylon." He says opening his eyes, looking her in the eyes the whole time. She gasps.

She lays there feeling as if he had stabbed her in the heart and pinned her up on the wall like people used to do with insects. She gasps as the impact of his words fall on her. _He's a cylon_; she tried in her own head. She shivers and convulses. She gets up off the bed and out of his grasp.

"No!" She whispers. "You can't be. You cry, you laugh, you love me, you married me, you want kids." He doesn't even sit up. He just lays in the bed, still numb. She climbs back onto the bed and rolls him over to face her. "You can't be." She whispers shaking him slightly.

"Why?"

She bends over and hugs him and whispers against his neck. "Because I love you."

"Even now?" His voice holds wistfulness but not hope. Hope would be too much to ask. She clings to him, a million thoughts coming to her. She has to report this, _has to_. The voice inside of her screams. She holds him tighter.

They lay there for hours and at some point they both fall asleep. He wakes up after a while to find her staring at him and tracing the lines on his face. He smiles briefly before the voices invade again.

"_She is part of your destiny_." They say.

"_I don't believe in destiny_." The thought comes.

"_That's alright, we believe it for you_." They say.

"Leoben." Kara says, noticing his eyes are unfocused. He looks at her. "I have to go back to Galactica." She pauses and bites her bottom lip. "And I have to take you with me." She breathes.

"_What, why_?" The voices in his head cry.

"I understand." He says solemnly.

"You do?" She asks.

"I'm a security risk. Who knows what I am capable of doing without my knowledge." He looks lost. "I can break a glass with my bare hand; I have no idea what else I could do." She nods and realizes that she is scared of him. After all the years they'd spent together fighting, loving, getting on one another's nerves she's never been afraid he could do anything to her she couldn't handle, until right that second.

"I have to contact Galactica." She sighs as she pulls a new shirt on. She goes over to the wireless and picks up the phone.

"_Stop her. Stop her before it's too late. This isn't foreseen in your destiny. STOP HER!" _The voices bellow inside of his head. He grimaces but moves to the closet to get dressed.

"Yes Galactica I need to speak to actual." She confirms as she watches Leoben move back to the bed. He sits with his hands in his lap and his head down not looking at her.

"Galactica actual." The admiral's voice comes over the wireless.

"Sir, I have a military situation that has arisen over here."

"Could you be more specific?"

"Sir," She starts and falters. "Sir. I found a cylon sleeper agent." Just saying it out loud gives her chills. Leoben lifts his head and looks across the room at the woman he loves, tears springing to his eyes. "I need an escort back to Galactica but I don't want to alarm the crew here."

"The marines can stay in the raptor." The admiral says. "As long as you can get the agent on board without a fight."

"I don't think that will be a problem sir."

"Who is it?" The admiral asks.

"My husband." She states.

"Oh gods, Kara." He breathes. "We'll send a raptor out immediately."

"Thank-you sir."

"Galactica out." The admiral says.

TBC... Getting angsty here.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I just play with them. Getting more angsty.

As soon as the admiral hangs up the wireless he looks to Dee. "Get the president on a secure line."

"Yes, sir." The petty officer responses. "Sir, her administration is telling me she's busy."

"Tell her aide to repeat this exactly. "The threat is real, and in the fleet." Got that petty officer?"

"Sir, yes sir." She says noting the seriousness of the admiral's face.

"XO, would you join me in the wardroom?"

"Sir." Colonel Tigh says following his CO. Once in the wardroom the admiral closes and locks the hatch. Tigh stands at attention waiting.

"There's a cylon sleeper agent in our fleet." The admiral grimaces at the thought.

"What?" The XO says. "Who?"

"Captain Thrace's husband." The XO's eyes grow large. "She's escorting him over now."

"Trouble seems to follow that woman." Tigh comments more to himself than his CO.

"That it does." The admiral agrees. "She sounded pretty upset."

"What are we going to do?"

"I'm not sure. I'm not even sure it would have information if it's a sleeper agent. I've notified the president. I'm sure she'll want to be here when we interrogate it."

"What are you going to do with Kara?" Tigh asks.

"Well, she'll be locked up for 4 days for disobeying a direct order not to go to her ship, but after that I'm not sure. She's been married to it for two years. Even if she consciously knows it's a cylon, I'm not sure she can stop thinking of it as her husband."

"That is just really frakked up." Tigh comments.

The raptor full of marines arrives an hour later. Kara moves Leoben through the ship. She's told them she's taking him to the doc on Galactica for observations. They seem to buy that story. The marines scatter as she brings Leoben on board. One of the marines moves to put the shackles on him.

"Let me." She says quietly extending a hand. They hand over the shackles and move away from the cylon. She moves the manacles around his ankles, up to his hands and finally the collar around his neck. She steers him to sit in the copilot seat in the raptor and prepares for take off, the raptor pilot moving as far away from the cylon as possible.

"I don't think these will hold me." He leans over and whispers.

"I know." She says moving the center consol down. "That's why I am here." She checks everything over for preflight and then they're off, back to Galactica. When they move him out of the raptor, the flight deck is empty Kara notices. They are all taken to the wardroom. They put Leoben on the chair in the middle of the room and Kara moves to the other side of the table.

"Can you state your name for us?" The president smiles.

"Leoben Conoy." He says.

"And why are you here today?"

"Because I am a cylon." He chokes out.

"I'd like Captain Thrace to leave us." The president says. Kara stands at attention.

"Marine, escort Captain Thrace to the brig. You are confined to the brig for 4 days for disobeying a direct order from your CO." The admiral says dismissively.

"Sir." She salutes and moves towards the marines. "Permission to speak freely?" She says turning before moving out of the hatch.

"Granted." The admiral says.

"Please don't kill him." And with that she exits. There's nothing else she can do. Once Kara has been removed the president turns back to the cylon.

"Your wife still cares for you." She looks puzzled.

"I will love her until my last breath."

"Are you capable of love?" The president asks.

"Up until four or five days ago I thought I was human. I have human emotions. I feel physical pain that I am causing my wife pain. I'm confused, but I know that I love her. So I would say yes, I am capable of love."

"Why would machines program themselves to feel love?" The admiral asks.

"That I cannot tell you. But it is the strongest bond, isn't it? The bond between a parent and child, husband and wife, brothers and sisters. We do horrible things to one another and the only thing that keeps up together is love. I know my family and I have said some horrific things to one another and if we didn't love each other we wouldn't have spoken to one another."

"What can you tell us about the cylons?" The admiral asks.

"Very little. I can hear them in my head. But mostly they're just yelling at me that I am betraying them. Or that they will find me."

"Perhaps you have schizophrenia setting in?" Tigh suggests.

"I don't think so." He says quietly.

"Why?"

"My strength has increased."

"Can you show us?" The president asks, not believing him. He thinks about it briefly before raising his hands. They look at him with interest. He pulls the metal shackles apart. The president gasps and the marines train their guns on him at the sudden movement.

"It is the only explanation." He states. Tigh grunts in agreement. The admiral looks pensive.

"Do you know if they can make you do things? Either the voices or the other cylons?" The admiral finally asks.

"They tried to get me to not let Kara take me here, but it wasn't that they could force me to stay or to harm Kara."

"Get new restraints and escort him to the brig for now." The admiral tells the marines. The escort the prisoner to the brig.

When Leoben has left the room the president turns to the admiral. "What on earth are we going to do with a machine that can break restraints?"

"I'm not sure."

"You can't possibly be thinking of keeping him alive." She says.

"You want me to kill it. It's been living with Kara for years."

"Are you keeping it alive for her?" The president looks at him incredulously. The admiral thinks about that for a moment.

"Maybe, or maybe I think we can use him. Maybe the voices will give him information."

"I can't believe you of all people would keep it alive." She sighs. "So we're at an impasse."

"For the moment."

Weeks later a glass and metal room has been constructed. Leoben sits inside with a cot and a table. The voices have become part of him; he doesn't even notice them most of the time, even when they're yelling at him to stop talking to Kara or the others from the fleet.

Kara comes every day after her shift. After the first few weeks they let her in to sit with him. She hasn't touched him since she brought him to Galactica. Most of her is afraid to touch him. Today they both seem morose.

"Kara?" He asks sitting across the table. "Why do you come here?"

"To see you." She states.

"You barely talk to me when you come. I frighten you; I can hear your heart beat now. Even as I'm talking its speeding up." He shakes his head. His body still feels alien to him even after a month.

"You scare me." He nods in agreement. "And yet I still love you." She barely whispers, knowing he can hear that if he can hear her heart.

"I love you, always will." He states. "Do they send you here to interrogate me?" He asks.

"Yes, but not every day." She looks down at the table.

"What about today?"

"No, they didn't ask me to come here today."

"So why did you come?" He presses. Part of it is the psychology side of him; the other part needs her to admit why she comes every day without fail.

"I told you."

"You told me half of the reason." He moves his shackled hands on top of the table. She looks up as he reaches across the table for her. She glares at him as her heart rate slows a little. She frowns then smiles a little.

"Just like old times, eh?"

"Indeed." He says smiling back at her.

"I'm here to prove to myself that this is real. That I didn't have a horrific nightmare that the man I'm passionately in love with is a cylon. I do it to prove to myself that I can and to prove to you that I do love you, even if I am completely confused right now."

"Thank-you." He smiles.

"For what?"

"For making it easier on yourself. I know you don't realize how much it helps to admit things out loud but it does." She sighs. He's been trying to convince her of that fact for years.

"I feel like I come down here more for myself than I do for you." She remarks.

"You do." He states. She looks into his eyes with a look of disgust. "That came out harsh. But you come down here for both of us but primarily for yourself. I appreciate the effort on my behalf but you have to let some of the anger go before we can really talk again." He sighs. "At this point you've become more my patient than my wife." She angrily gets up and crosses the room.

"Frak you." She yells.

"I love you too Kara." He says, the sadness returning to his eyes.

The next day on CAP Kara is distracted as she tries to sort out if she's going to see her husband after her rotation that night or not. At some point in the night she'd decided he was right; that she was going to see him because it hurt her. Because it evoked some sort of feeling. Because seeing him made things worse and better all at the same time and because who else was she going to talk to about this?

Helo had come to her rescue right after she'd found out about Leoben being a cylon but he had a life and she felt like she was monopolizing his time. Lee avoided Kara like the plague, not wanting to have any conversation with her that would involve her husband. Everyone else treated her like a leper. The admiral had tried to engage her in conversations but failed when it came to the topic of the cylon in the holding cell.

_What do you expect them to say_, she thinks to herself as she follows Lee around on CAP. She decides not to go see Leoben until she wants to see him, really wants to see him. Not because she feels guilty, not because the military asks her to, but because she wants to be there. She sighs as the hatred for the cylons fills her, _its going to be a very long time_, she thinks to herself.

TBC...


	14. Chapter 14

Three months later……….

Leoben is lying awake in his cell, counting the dots on the ceiling. He's done push ups until he can't hold himself up. The boredom is getting to him. He's actually resorted to talking to the voices in his head, which turned out to be frightening. Kara hadn't been to see him in three months; he'd kept count on the bottom of his shoe.

In that time several marines had been sent to interrogate him. Currently he was sporting a split lip and a nasty shiner from the last round. A month ago, one of the marines had kicked him so hard, he'd had two broken ribs. That was when the marines were restricted on how they could hit him. He sighed to himself as he'd lost count of the dots and began again.

Meanwhile in the bunk room Kara has just returned from a shower. She's nervous in a way she hasn't been in years. She's finally convinced the commander to let her in with Leoben without his restraints. The sight of him in restraints wouldn't help Kara come to terms with the situation so she had pleaded and begged with the admiral until he had granted her permission after three months. The admiral only granted it because Kara was losing it. She had lost weight, which left her gaunt and she looked haunted most of the time. Admiral Adama needed all of his pilots in good working order so he'd granted her request.

The time away from Leoben was necessary for Kara. Over the last few months she had sought religious guidance and counseling on letting go of her hatred. It took the first month for her to let go of her childhood and the next two for her to come to terms with the fact that her husband is a cylon. The religious leader had pointed out that if she didn't consciously known before that he was a cylon, why would it make a difference now? She'd given some bullshit excuse about security risks but knew that her fear of him, of what he might be capable of, was controlling her actions.

So Starbuck had finally decided to get over the fear that he would hurt her, because if he hadn't yet all those months ago when he had stayed shackled while he was being interrogated, it was very unlikely that he would now. And she truly believed he loves her. No matter what her brain screams, she knew he loves her. Knew that he gave up his freedom because he trusted she was doing the right thing.

She changes out of her dress blues from teaching and slipped on her sweats. She runs her hands through her short blond hair and looks at herself in the eye one last time before she headed down.

Leoben sits up as the guard slides the door open. The marine is large enough he couldn't see who his visitor is until she steps pasted the marine. He gasps when he sees her. She nods slightly to the marine, who passes a small object to Kara, and then he moves to close the door and moves out of the room all together.

Kara moves slowly across the room. Each step seems labored and difficult. He could hear her heart accelerate even more as she comes closer. He stays sitting on the bed watching her, mesmerized. She kneels at his feet and moves to take the shackles off. He stares at the top of her head.

"Are you real?" He whispers hoarsely. He'd had dreams with her in it that were so real he had cried when he woke up and realized that the dream had never happened. She looks up at him, her hazel eyes locking with his blue ones. He smiles at the surety he sees there. She moves to unlock the shackles at his wrists and finally the one around his neck. She stands upright above him and steps back a fraction. He feels her resist the urge to back up further.

He moves slowly and purposefully as he stands, not wanting to scare her. He steps forward and wraps his arms around her in one motion, before she has time to realize what he is doing. She rests her head against his shoulder and brings her arms up around his back. He buries his face in the side of her neck, breathing in the scent of her. Gods how he had missed her scent. Even after showering it was still there, still Kara. He hears her take a deep breath and he smiles to himself.

"I love you." She whispers, her lips tickling against his neck. He pulls back and smoothes her hair down with one hand as the other moves down to rest on her waist.

"I love you." He says moving his body in close to hers again and placing a chaste kiss on her lips. She doesn't pull back but she doesn't deepen this kiss either. She pulls back from the kiss but doesn't move away. He rests his forehead on hers and breathes in slowly. "I missed you."

"I've missed you too." She chokes out.

"Are you ok?" He asks.

"No, but I'm getting there." She moves her arms around his neck and pulls his face towards hers and really kisses him. _He's still mine_, she thinks to herself, _still the man I know and love_. _The taste, the smell, his kisses, all the same,_ she thinks. _Why was I afraid of him?_ She questions. He pulls back panting at the contact. "I'll get there." She repeats looking up at him. He smiles widely as if she's just given him the best present ever.

"How's life in the fleet been?" He asks hugging her tighter.

"Typical. Train, eat, sleep, work out." She purposely leaves out the killing cylons part. It's her job and he knows it, no reason to point it out.

"Any news on how long they intend to keep me under observation?" He asks.

"Not a clue. The admiral seems convinced that you can still be used." She smoothes a hand down his face. "Which is why I suspect you have a few cuts, and aren't floating in space."

"Yes." He agrees. "I wish I could be more useful. Most of the time the stupid voices just tell me to go frak myself. The rest of the time they speak of some destiny. It's been a bit tedious."

"What could they possibly tell you about your destiny? Are they psychic now as well as being flesh toned toasters?"

"Mostly they speak of my destiny with you, but that's as far as they go. They don't tell me what that destiny is just that it's by your side." She pulls back to look at him. "I don't believe that my life was somehow mapped out before either of us was born. That would mean I was destine to be a cradle robbing bastard from the time I was born."

He smirks slightly at their old joke. She smiles faintly.

"Do you think you could have avoided me?" She asks seriously looking up into his face. "Do you think that it wasn't fate that brought us together on Picon?"

"I don't believe in fate." He states, her face falters. "I believe in you. I believe you were meant for me and me for you."

"Isn't that fate?" She looks suspiciously at him.

"I would call it luck more than fate." He moves a hand to brush her hair away from her face. "I am the luckiest man, toaster, whatever I am, in the whole universe." She pulls him closer to her and places her cheek against his chest, listening to his heart. It sounds so human and according to the grueling medical tests, it is a heart. The only real difference they've discovered is the silica pathways that receive bio information from the rest of his body in his brain, instead of neurons like a human.

"How are you doing with this situation?" She asks her voice muffled against his shirt. He strokes a hand down her back.

"I'm not sure." He states breaking away from her embrace. "I went into denial for a very long time, but after the second or third beating I realized that this is my life now." He sighs and crosses his arms across his chest. "I would help if I could. The cylons don't trust me because I allowed myself to be caught and told you point blank what I thought I was. The human's don't trust me, with good reason. Who knows what I'm capable off?"

They stand a part staring at one another for a long time. His gaze is intense and she looks away often, trying not to be afraid of him.

"I trust you." She whispers, looking back into his eyes.

"Why?" He asks pained.

"Because you love me. Because I believe that you're still being given a choice to act on the programming they gave you and you don't. Because I knew I could come in here and you would hold me, not hurt me. Because no matter what switch they flipped in your brain, you're still my husband. Because you're still here. You could have broken out of this cage any time you'd wanted, and yet you stayed. You took the beatings, the broken ribs" He raises his eye brows at that "yes I heard about that. You took everything they could dish out and you stayed. Why did you stay?" She asks with unshed tears in her eyes.

"Kara." He scolds.

"Say it. You always make me say what I don't want to admit, remember it's good for you." She smiles sadly.

"I stayed for you." He closes the distance between them and grabs her hands. "I couldn't leave you here not knowing what happened to you, if you were happy, if the fleet ever found a place to call home. I can't truly live without the sound of your voice or the touch of your skin. You mean more to me that I can ever tell you." She sighs and moves to hug him one last time.

"I have to go."

"Will you come back?" He asks.

"Yes."

"Tomorrow?" He asks hopeful.

"Probably not. I've got double CAP and teaching. I'll be dead on my feet."

"A day in the life of I guess." He kisses her one last time, and then sits on the bed so she can put the shackles on again. She looses it when she has to snap the collar back into place. She kisses his forehead and walks to be buzzed out of the enclosing. She hands the key back to the guard and with one last fleeting glance, is gone.

Several weeks later Starbuck is called to a briefing in the wardroom with the admiral, president and XO. She stands at attention in the middle of the room.

"Captain, how is your husband?" The president starts. Kara waivers. "At easy Captain." Kara relaxes a fraction.

"He is fine sir. His nose is healing from the last beating. I believe he can breathe through it again." Kara states matter-of-factly.

"Good." The president responds. "Captain, we have a task for you and him." Kara looks between the admiral and the president searching for what reaction they expected.

"Sirs?" She asks.

"We've been talking amongst ourselves. It is our belief that if he can hear the other cylons, and they can know what he is doing, the reverse is true. That he can find a way to learn what they know. Do you think he would be willing to help?" The president spreads her hands wide.

"Yes sir."

"Good. I would like you to propose this venture."

"Sir?" She asks. "May I assist if necessary?"

"Why would you need to be there?" The XO questions.

"I'm his wife sir. He is here because of me. If I weren't part of this whole equation, do you think you'd have a nice little caged cylon, or one going on a rampage?" She retorts.

"Captain." The admiral's voice holds warmth of anger and an edge warning.

"Sorry sir. Excuse my outburst." She stands a little straighter.

"We will have to discuss if you will be permitted to remain with him while he tries to infiltrate the cylons. We're still not sure he can't be forced to do something against his own moral fiber. Such as harm you. He's fast, and too strong. Before we could save anyone he could kill them. It puts us in a predicament." The president states.

"I understand sir. I would be willing to go in armed." She says.

"You want us to believe you'd shoot your own husband?" The admiral looks at her skeptically.

"To protect myself, absolutely."

"Yes but would you shoot to kill?" The president asks.

"Yes."

"Damn Starbuck, and here I thought you'd gone soft on us for a cylon." The XO taunts her. She breathes deeply and stares straight ahead.

"We will discuss it captain. You are dismissed." The admiral says.

Three days later Kara's schedule has been cleared for an entire week. She dresses in her civilian clothes as she prepares to help her husband infiltrate the cylons. He's been briefed on the type of information the fleet is looking for. He thinks it's a brilliant idea; Kara on the other hand is a little more cautious. What if they cylons have a way to shut him down, or worse try to break out.

She sighs heavily as she straps her gun to her hip. It'd been a while since she'd worn it; viper pilots weren't known for carrying a gun to fly a viper. She sighs again, knowing full well that it may come to killing the man she loved. _Am I ready for that?_ She thought to herself. _Yes_, came the answer. She'd thought about it a few hundred times over the last few months as she struggled to understand why the gods would do something so futile to her as make her fall in love with a cylon.

She enters the small room and sat at the table, Leoben sit across from her. They don't remove the shackles and the marines stand on either side of Leoben, their guns trained on him. She gave him a watery smile and sighs.

"Ready?" She asks.

"As I'll ever be." He says.

"Just remember who you are and that I'll be here for you." She reaches across the table to put a hand on his. He smiles brilliantly at her and her heart stopped for a moment, then speeds up having absolutely nothing to do with being frightened of him. His smile widened and his hands move to enclose hers.

"Try not to speak. It'll just distract me." He closes his eyes and stops trying to drown out the voices with his thoughts. At first they welcome him, acknowledging him but that soon turns to distrust as the rest of his model figures out what he is trying to do. After only a few minutes, he feels like he is getting kicked out of his own head.

He gasps as he is suddenly back on Galactica looking at Kara. _Well that was interesting_, he thinks to himself. He tries again. This time he can see what the collective thought on the battle star is, how it's oriented, how many copies of the models live there.

Kara watches as Leoben's eyes focus in and out of the room. Every now and again he gasps and he looks at her as if he actually sees her. She sits quietly. She is there to help when needed and to report every detail to the admiral, president and XO. It would be a lengthy discussion.

After a few hours, he is starting to crack around the edges. Kara sees it but leaves it alone, knowing that there wasn't anything she could say to make him stop trying. It seemed to be affecting him physically as well as mentally. When dinner is brought to his cell she puts her hand across the table to touch his hand. He jumps at the contact, his eyes filling with the knowledge of being in the here and now. He smiles.

"Glad to have you back." She states. "Your dinner is here." She moves the plate across the table.

"That was amazing." He breathes between bites of food. She looks at him puzzled. "There is so much more there for the taking than the admiral and president asked for. I think I might need someone to sketch things out for me." She raises an eyebrow.

"I can." She says. "If you can describe it, I can probably draw it."

"I've only seen your paintings." He says looking at her quizzically.

"I took every art class I could from grade school on. But flying is my passion; art is just a past time. Especially now." She states. "What were you able to do?" She asks when he is finished with his food. He smiles at his wife.

"The base stars. How they're oriented, how many there are: 129." Kara's eyes widen at the shear volume of base stars. "There are ships we've never seen, but I don't know what they're called yet. There are only seven known models, one of them being decommissioned. My designation is two. I have no idea how they number the models, but I am number two."

"Did they try to stop you?" She asks.

"They did at first, but if I can't keep them out they can't keep me out. They're trying to hide the certain things the admiral wanted me to look for. Luckily the base star and the other cylons were easy because every copy of my model has interacted with one of the five other cylon models, although none of them gave a clear definition of the seventh one. It's very curious."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. My model is fascinated by us. More by you but defiantly by my interactions with you and our marriage. They don't have the concept of marriage. They barely have sex, or eat as a group. Even within the models they don't choose to interact very often. It helps and hinders them to have all of the models connected. Makes it only necessary for the models to talk between each other but within the models there isn't hardly any verbal communication."

"Sounds lonely."

"I would think so, but I don't know that they know what it means to be lonely. They've always felt that way. They've never needed anyone the way I need you and you need me. And love is almost a foreign concept to them. They're capable, and they're aware that it is something they can do but they choose to keep themselves at a distant from any other cylon. Its like having thousands of tiny islands within eyesight of one another and yet the stranded persons choose to stay stranded. I don't understand it." He raises her hand to his lips and brushes them across her knuckles. She gasps at the small movement. "I could never give you up." He states. She feels her heart melt.

"Well I'd be go report this information to the admiral. I'm sure they're wondering if you've killed me yet." He looks at her strangely. "We're all still wondering if you can be forced into doing something you don't want to do or aren't conscious of doing. Like hurting me." She finishes. His eyes widen in shock. She moves around the table and places a soft kiss on his lips. She leans in close, so only he can hear, "I love you, always."

He smiles as he watches her leave.

The next few days are pretty much the same. Kara has to cut Leoben off so she can be debriefed and try to conjure up some drawings of the things he's seeing. By the fourth day he's been exploring the cylons during the night. He discovers something that disturbs him more than anything else he's discovered so far.

"What's wrong?" She asks.

"Nothing." He says stoically.

"You know you're a really horrible liar." She states. He sighs.

"I found something out last night." He pauses; she waits for him to continue. "The cylons have this thing called resurrecting."

"Like rising from the dead?"

"Yes exactly. Evidently my consciousness would be downloaded into another body, like you would transfer files on a computer." He finishes with disgust in his voice. "That's what those oddly shaped ships are for: they're call resurrection hubs." He rifles through the drawings she's made. "This one is the closest to the fleet currently. It's within transmitting range of the fleet so if the six active cylons die they will be able to resurrect."

"How do they know where we are?" She asks interested.

"A tracking device and evidently we have a radiation signature from the nukes that hit Galactica when we came out of Ragnar Anchorage. It leads them right to us every time." Kara takes notes to report later. She pauses as she realizes what resurrection could mean to him.

"That's just disturbing." Kara mumbles to herself more than to him. He nods in agreement. "How would we know it was you who resurrected? And not some imposter?" She asks seriously. This type of information might get him killed if there was no discernable way to make sure he was the right deadly machine.

"There are some memories I've kept locked up very tight."

"Such as?" She looks suspicious.

"The masked party at Helo's. I've shown them bits but not what happened that night or what you looked like."

"How did you keep it from them?"

"I've been practicing thinking of mundane things almost all of the time. I never conjure that memory, even now I'm thinking of dancing that night or hitting on the woman on the balcony." She smiles slightly at the last comment.

"So we have a code I guess?" She asks.

"It would seem so."

"Are you going to keep trying to find information?" She asks. It's been a week, she has to return to CAP rotation tomorrow and her nuggets seemed to think that the week off was to aide them, boy were they in for a surprise.

"I always will. It's getting much harder now. Looking for the home world, assuming they have one, is very difficult. Plus there are the final five cylons that even the cylons don't know who they are. They're even forbidden to think of them, and yet every one of them does."

"Well I'd best go report this." The chair scrapes against the floor as she gets up. She goes around the table to kiss her husband but this time she tangles her finger in his hair, possessing his mouth with hers. When she breaks away he is smiling up at her. She smiles back. "I'll see you soon." She breathes and with that goes to have one last discussion with the admiral and president.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

The admiral and president find the resurrection ship to be a valuable piece of information. She is dismissed so they can talk amongst themselves. Kara returned to her bunk, glad that the military decisions aren't hers.

"CAP, this is Galactica. Cylons in bound on this side of the fleet."

"Rodger that Galactica, CAP returning to your side of the fleet." Lee states over the make it to the other side of the fleet as the rest of the alert fighters are launched. Galactica has been put between the raiders and the fleet. By the time the fighters are in weapons range several of the heavy raiders have landed and are boarding Galactica.

Her heart hammers as she fights off the raiders long enough for the fleet to jump. Galactica plans to jump with the boarding party still on board.

"Galactica, Starbuck. You've been boarded."

"Starbuck, Actual. Acknowledged. Combat landings approved. We're jumping." The admiral's voice comes over the wireless.

"Frak." Kara swears as she lands on the hangar bay.

After combat landings, the deck crews don't retrieve the vipers, leaving them to sit on the hangar deck. Kara is one of the first out of her viper. The rest of the pilots follow her lead and they fill the hallway outside of the small weapons locker on the hanger bay floor.

It looks like half the deck's air had been vented into space when they reach a section strewn with centurion parts and dead or dying humans. Kara sighs and signals the group ahead.

Four decks up, the viper pilots finally peal their EV suits off. Her group is scattered in the hall way when a group of centurion's pass. Kara stares at the toasters, not remembering they were that tall in the museums. She realizes they're on the deck where they're holding Leoben. She thinks about going to him and then decides against it. They wouldn't shoot their own…she hoped. She shot two of the centurions heading down the hall away from where she was hiding. The small pistol rounds did nothing. The centurions didn't even turn around, they just kept heading towards the holding cell. Kara sighed and headed up the hall way, signaling her group to keep moving.

After an hour of hide and seek without affecting the centurions forward movement Kara stopped at a small arms locker to see what ammo was left. She found a few frag grenades and some explosive rounds. She smiled at the viper pilots with her, and a few of them flinched. They knew that look. It meant Starbuck was going to go nuts on someone.

They moved forward once again. Kara got on the wireless and was instructed to take out as many centurions as possible while other crew members protected the air supply. One of the tactics still seemed to basically air lock the entire ship. Kara hung up and headed down the hall way. They sat and waited for centurions to go by.

It wasn't long before the hall way was filled with centurions marching towards the lower decks, trying to get to the air supply. Once the centurions had passed, Kara pulled the pin on the grenade and lobed it. There was a loud bang and then pieces were flying. The centurions that didn't fall turned and opened fire, not truly caring where or what they hit. Kara sent a few explosive rounds into a few of their heads and smiled as they exploded.

It was hours before the threat was resolved. Kara walked the ship without the other pilots taking in the destruction the boarding party had caused. She still had her pistol naked in her hand as she entered the CIC. She put the firearm away and came to stand next to the admiral.

"What do you know Starbuck?" He asks.

"Nothing but dead centurions from deck F to the CIC, sir." He turns to look at her.

"We're having trouble communicating with the marines on G deck. Were you down there?" he asks.

"Yes sir but not for hours now. We left before I called on the wireless."

"Colonel Tigh, send a new batch of marines down to that level and have the report back."

"Sir." Tigh said moving off.

"Permission to accompany the marines, sir." Kara asked.

"Denied, until we know what is going on down there."

Several minutes and small heart attacks later, the contingent of marines reported on the wireless. The admiral put the marine on speaker.

"Sir, situation secure. You need to come see this." The lead marine says over the wireless. The admiral agrees and moves out of the CIC flanked by Kara and Tigh. As they walked into the containment cell Kara noticed the pieces of centurion scattered all around the outside. There were blood stains from where the marines had been either moved to the life station or the body had been removed. The door to the cell was off of its hinges and Kara gasped when she looked in the cell.

Leoben was sitting, without his restraints, with a dead centurion at his feet. His hands were bloody from stopping the machines advances but he was still there. And alive. As she tries to rush in ahead of the marine guards the admiral grabs her by the collar.

"Let the marines do their job." He says. "We don't even know if that's him."

"I can verify that sir." She says.

"How?" He looks puzzled.

"There are a few secrets left to my husband alone. We discussed it briefly after I found out about the resurrection ships." The admiral raised his eyebrows. "I didn't want an imposter to be planted. I'm still in love with the man. If I am going to be kissing a cylon, I'd better be damn sure it's the right one." The admiral smirks at her statement.

"Well then, by all means please verify that we've still got the right cylon."

Kara steps around the marines and enters the cell. Leoben's face looks like it came in contact with a meat grinder. She sighs as her heart rate accelerates at the thought of him hurt. She strips off one of her tanks and wipes some of the blood off his face. One of his eyes is swollen shut. His other eye focuses on her and he smiles. She smiles back.

"Who am I?" She asks.

"Kara."

"Who was I at the masked party a few winters ago?"

"Persephone." He says. The admiral looks at Kara who nods slightly.

"Why did they come for you?" Kara asks.

"They came to take me back."

"How were they planning to do that?" The admiral interrupts.

"I'm not sure."

"Why didn't you go with them?" The admiral prompts.

"Why would I leave?" he looks to Kara. She smiles weakly.

"You could have escaped." He motions to the door. "And yet here you stand."

"I wouldn't be able to see my wife if I left sir. Besides I've been human or thought I was human for forty nine years, why would I want to go live with a bunch of toasters?"

"Why now?"

"I've been divulging their secrets and they know it." He paused. "Also they came to collect Kara, speaking of her destiny."

"I didn't know the centurions spoke." The admiral said skeptically.

"They don't but the whole lot of my model was jabbering about it in my head once they found out we were being boarded. Evidently they'd been kept out of the plan so as to not alert me." He grimaces knowing his usefulness is almost at an end. "I was ok with them coming to take me. I understand that, but once my model started getting excited about taking Kara I sort of lost it." He motioned to the centurion at his feet. The admiral nodded. Kara looked concerned.

"Well, I must report to the CIC and get an action report. There will be marines outside that door, but I think the captain can stay for a little while." The admiral turned and exited before he could reconsider his decision. It must be the way they looked at one another, even after all that had happened, that made the admiral allow the captain to stay.

Kara looked at her husband and winced.

"What did they do to your face?" She asks, using her tank once again to try to clean more of the blood off.

"Well, the centurion didn't stop moving when I ripped its head off. The body kept moving. And it managed to punch me a few times before I managed to rip both of the arms off." He grimaces as she touched his swollen eye.

"Well, thank-you." She says quietly leading him over to his cot to sit on it. She turns her attention to his hands. They close around hers.

"You don't have to do that." He says. "I'll be fine." He reassures her. "Really." He angles his one good eye to look into her eye. She looks at him.

"What did they say about my destiny?" She asks quietly.

"Well." He starts, then makes a face. "First off, you're not going to like it."

"I already don't." She retorts.

"Well, they have been saying that your destiny is intertwined with mine. And that you and I will find a home for both our kind."

"Well that's a tall order. Any clue how they think this will be happening?"

"No. Just that they were giddy to find out that we were married. That's why they've been so fascinated with our relationship. They want you to spend time with them so you can see their side." He finishes, knowing she'll hate that last part as much as he does. Her face recoils at that thought.

"How do they expect to do that when they've destroyed almost everything I love?"

"They believe in destiny, I'm guessing that they believe there will be a miracle and you'll forgive them."

"It would take a miracle." She says absentmindedly.

"What made you forgive me?" He asks quietly. She looks at him. His face is pained and she knows that most of him didn't want to ask the question but that he'd wanted to ask it for a very long time now. She sighs.

"Well, I love you for starters. That made everything much easier once I decided that it was senseless to be angry with you. It's not like you made yourself a cylon. It was involuntarily. And I sought help." His eyes widen at that admission. "Well, over the past few years I have started to feel better about things in my life. Like my mom and Zak, so I figured it would help for this situation also."

"Who did you seek help from?" He inquired.

"Everyone, really. Helo, Sharon, the admiral, the president, even the XO had some helpful, if not hurtful things to add. And then I went to a priestess and finally another headshrinker." She sighed. It felt good to admit to him she'd sought help, that she really was forgiving him, that it wasn't just her pushing her feelings inside.

"So that's what took 3 months?" He asks trying to control his face. He fails and smiles that she's finally taking his advice. She grins back at him.

"Yes, that is what took me 3 months." She moves closer to him on the bed. "So do you figure anyone is back in the observation room yet?" She leans into him.

"I could give a frak less." His hands move to rest on her hips as he leans into her kiss. He flinches as the cut on his lip stings. She feels him flinch and tries to pull back. One of his hands moves to the back of her neck to keep her lips against his. Her tongue darts past his lips, tasting the blood in the process. She pulls back a little but still kisses him, hands roaming over his chest.

After a few long moments, Leoben pulls back. "We have to stop before I take this too far. I don't need video feed of something more intimate than this leaking out." He sighs, moving his forehead against hers.

"Well, I'd best go help put the ship back together. I just wanted to make sure they hadn't replaced you with an imposter." She kisses his brow and rises to leave. He stands with her and hugs her to him briefly before letting her go.

Kara finds her way down to the hanger bay, where the chief is collecting centurion parts. She smirks and asks, "Any particular parts you're looking for chief?" He grunts.

"All of them." He says picking up an arm and putting it in the cart next to him. "I'll figure something out for every last piece I'm sure." Kara moves around the deck picking up small pieces and some large when she finds them.

It takes the crew a few days to remove all of the parts. There were casualties and services for the dead. Kara stood at attention as they committed over twenty crew mates to space. She felt like all she'd done for months now was attend funerals.

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Kara finally gets some leave a few weeks after the cylons board Galactica. She heads back to the Temptation to spend some time with her crew. It may only be for 24 hours but it's her home, plus her bed is better there than on Galactica. She smiles as she boards the raptor. Athena is accompanying her for a while and Helo agreed to come later that night for a while. The crew had planned a triad marathon for their captain's return.

Copper greets them on the docking bay. He actually hugs Kara _and_ Sharon. Kara looks at him funny.

"Glad to have you, sir." He says. "The crew is assembled in the mess."

"The entire crew?" She asks.

"Absolutely."

"I'm going to take a shower first."

"Do you have your own shower?" Athena asks.

"Yeah."

"Ooh! Then I call second shower." Sharon says.

"We won't be long." Kara says leading the way.

After Kara and Sharon swap out the shower and put clean clothes on (Kara's clothes didn't fit Sharon all that well but they were clean.) they wandered down to the mess. Kara smiled at the scene then noticed an interloper in their midst.

"Mr. CAG. How the hell did you, plus two of your pilots get the same day off?" She asks looking at Lee sitting amongst her crew.

"Well I am the CAG. Plus I hear this is where the ambrosia comes from. I need a break and I'm sure someone else can scream at everyone to get to their CAP on time today. Or I'll just yell at them tomorrow." Kara smiles.

"Shall we get this started then?" Floyd asks setting down a round of glasses and a bottle of ambrosia as Hammer shuffles the cards.

"Frak yeah." Kara says sitting down.

Hours later the cards are forgotten, as Kara and Lee have taken everyone's money, but the ambrosia is still flowing. The crew talks about how it's been to be in the fleet as the smallest carrier. They're preparing the docking bay to receive refugees in the next few days.

"Well then I'm glad we're doing this now." Kara says raising her glass.

"Indeed. Imagine what and audience we'd have with three colonial pilots sitting in our mess."

"What do you mean?" Sharon asks.

"You guys are like celebrities. Especially Starbuck and Apollo. Seems some of the stunts the two of you have pulled in the air together are infamous." Hammer says.

"No one ever thinks about the raptor pilots." Sharon pouts.

"The fleet still loves you; you just don't look like you're going to kill someone every time you fly." Copper laughs as Kara punches him in the arm. "Let's play "never have I ever". Copper says suddenly and with much enthusiasm. This is one of the few times the crew has really met any of Kara's military friends. Copper knows they have stories about her and hopes this stupid game will reveal some of them. "Here I'll go first. If you have done this, you have to drink." He looks mischievous. Kara groans. "Never have I ever flown a viper." Lee and Kara clink glasses and down their shots.

"Ok." Kara says getting the gist. "Never have I ever woken up with a tattoo that I couldn't remember getting." Kara says. She watches as Copper drinks but is surprised when Sharon and Lee join in. "Where is yours?" She turns to Sharon. Sharon pulls her tank to expose her shoulder blade. There is a poorly drawn butterfly on her shoulder blade. Kara bursts into laughter. "What about you?" She turns to Lee.

"I can't show you." He says calmly. Sharon and Kara look at one another before cracking up.

"That's alright; I'll just pay more attention next time we're in the head together." Kara states.

"Alright, my turn." Lee says. "Never have I ever been thrown in hack for hitting my CO." He looks right at Kara. She drinks her shot.

"Never have I ever had sex in a raptor." Floyd says. Kara and Lee both drink, while Sharon just grins.

"Really, never?" Kara asks.

"Nope."

"Never have I ever had sex with someone whom I didn't know their last name." Hammer says, taking a drink herself. Everyone in the group has to drink.

"That's not fair, you drank too." Floyd says.

"Hey if I want to get myself drunk I can." Hammer retorts, refilling her glass.

"Oh I've got another one." Lee slurs slightly, the previous hours of drinking catching up. "Never have I ever frakked the admiral's son." His eyes dance as he raises his eyebrows at Kara. She lifts her glass, salutes her CO with her other hand, and downs her shot. When she's done with her shot, Sharon picks hers up, salutes her CO and downs her shot. Both Kara and Lee look at Sharon.

"What? There were other admirals in the fleet before the attacks you know." She smiles. The phone rings in the mess, Helo asks permission to dock. By the time he changes out of his flight suit and joins them in the mess, things are getting raunchier. Helo takes a shot just to try to catch up. By the time he's settled in, it's his turn to embarrass Kara.

"Never have I ever ended up in hack for getting caught frakking in my viper." Kara and Lee both laugh and drink.

"Never have I ever been caught trying to steal a dress." Kara says looking right at Helo.

"Frakker." He says taking a shot. The whole group loses it.

"You tried to wear it out of the store." Kara gets out between snorts. The group laughs even harder.

"Never have I ever seen Kara naked." Sharon says when she can breathe enough to speak. Her entire crew, Helo and Lee drink. "Geez Starbuck, do you own clothes?"

"She streaked us on a dare." Copper speaks up.

"She did that at the academy too." Helo says.

"Never have I ever stolen something larger than a bread box." Lee says. The crew of the Temptation drinks. Helo looks puzzled.

"Is a dress larger than a bread box?" He asks, far too sober.

"The fact you can ask that means you drink." Hammer says pouring more into his glass. He downs the ambrosia.

"Never have I ever done things in a theatre that could get me arrested." Skid says, finally figuring out something that won't incriminate her in the process. All of the men drink.

"Never have I ever been married." Floyd says. Kara drinks immediately, surprisingly Lee, Hammer, Skid and Helo drink too. Sharon smacks Helo on the arm.

"What? I was 18. I was stupid, joined the military, and married my childhood sweetheart. Months later she ended up sleeping with my best friend." He says sullenly. Kara looks to Lee for his explanation.

"What he said." He retorts. Hammer and Skid shake their heads; they're not telling.

"Never have I ever had a threesome." Helo says looking at Kara. She shrugs. Everyone just about drops their glasses when Skid downs her drink and smiles.

"Never have I ever had a devil's threesome." Kara tests. Skid picks up her newly pour drink and downs it. The group cracks up. "I think that deserves the rest of us drinking in honor of you." She raises her glass as does everyone else.

The night ends shortly after that as people start passing out on the mess floor. Helo and Sharon manage to find one of the new cots set up in the docking bay for the refugees. Kara and Lee are the only two people left awake in the mess. They pass the bottle back and forth.

"Heading back to Galactica tonight?" She asks.

"Frak no. The raptor will be here at 0700 tomorrow, I'll just catch a ride then."

"Thanks for coming. I'm sure the embarrassment would have waited for Helo to get here if you hadn't been here to pick up the slack, so thanks."

TBC...


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I just play with them a while before giving them back.

"Captain Thrace report to CIC. Captain Thrace to the CIC." Comes over the intercom on Galactica. Kara moans as she moves out from under her viper. She gets up and grabs her dress jacket and heads towards the CIC. She approaches the command central and stands at attention next to Colonel Tigh.

"Sir." She salutes.

"The admiral and president have something to discuss with you in the wardroom." He dismisses her with a wave of his hand. She sighs as she leaves the CIC. _What a wild goose chase, couldn't they have just called me to tell me to meet them in the wardroom?_ She thinks to herself. She waits at the wardroom door, until one of the marines is signaled to open the door.

"Ah, Captain." The president greets Kara warmly. Kara returns the smiles, if not the enthusiasm since she has no idea why she is standing in front of the admiral and the president. "We have some good news and some bad news."

"I'll take the bad news first, sir." She says.

"Good, because the story doesn't make sense with the good news first." The president states.

"Kara." The admiral's serious attitude is a stark contrast to the president's attitude. "We've found another cylon from the pictures Leoben had you draw." Kara's eyes widen. "Needless to say we are having issues keeping the model in check. He calls himself Doral, seems he's been in the press corp. from before the attacks."

"And the good news sir?" She asks puzzled.

"Since Leoben has been so cooperative we have decided to place him under house arrest, instead of in the holding cell." Kara looks between the two, completely shocked. "And I have given permission for you to share his quarters if you so choose." The admiral almost spits out.

"Sir?" She asks aware of the admiral's feelings. He sighs.

"It is very apparent to everyone that you're coming to terms with still being in love with a person who just so happens to be a cylon. I'm not saying I trust him completely, but I trust you enough to allow you to be alone with him." Kara smirks.

"So, Captain. The choice is yours." The president says smiling. They both already know how Kara will decide, even if she doesn't know yet.

"I would like to share the quarters with him." She finally admits. She knows that there will be a lot of discontent, but there already is, plus she's Starbuck, she'll just punch the poor sap that tries to say anything.

"We figured you'd say that. He was transferred down to C deck three hours ago. If we need either of your help with the Doral model, we know where to find you." The president smiles. She seems much more accepting that Kara is willing to love her husband still, than the admiral is.

"C deck, Hatch 207." The admiral says dismissively. Kara salutes and turns to leave.

"Thank-you sirs." She says, and then exits. She heads off to CAP and for the next three tortuous hours is forced to sit in her viper while she thinks about Leoben. Finally she is done with her rotation and her day, she heads to the showers. She barely notices anyone in the head, although it's packed after shift change. She grabs some food from the mess and heads to C deck, almost nervous. _Nope, completely nervous_ she admits to herself.

There are two marines standing outside of hatch 207. They nod to her as she enters with her tray of food. She smiles as he sits up on the bed; she'd obviously woken him when she opened the hatch. He looks confused for a moment before he beams at her. She sets her tray down and moves quickly across the room as he rises to meet her halfway.

"Hi." She says not touching him yet, knowing once she starts she's not going to stop for a very long time.

"Hi." He says back just as tentative to touch her as she is him.

"Did they tell you the news?" She asks with a twinkle in her eye.

"That they caught Doral?" He asks confused.

"Well, yeah that too. I meant about me being allowed to live here with you." She smiles a very small and shy smile. His eyes widen at the realization of what she has just said and then he is on her. His arms wrap around her tightly and he is laughing and crying all in the same moment. She returns the embrace laughing with him.

"I can't believe they'd let you." He breathes against her ear. He pulls back and his lips descend on hers, demanding. It's been almost a year since he'd been turned over to the colonial fleet, and placed under observation the entire time. His body screams out its need as he presses himself against her. She returns the fervor and presses herself into him. His fingers move to the buttons on her coat, and she is surprised he doesn't just rip them off. Slowly he undoes each button then slides his arms inside her jacket, feeling the warmth from her body soak into his neglected skin.

She lets out a sigh and his tongue attacks hers. He moves a hand up to remove the coat as he pulls her towards the bed. Her hands tease along the waistband of his pants and she runs her hands up under his shirt then pulls the material off over his head. She pushes him down on the bed and removes her tanks and her bra. He sits up and runs his hands up from her hips to rest on her ribs right below her breast. She sighs as he takes one breast into his mouth and teases the nipple until she cries out before moving to the other breast. Her fingers move to his hair and tug at it as he plays with her nipples. When he feels satisfied that he has worshipped that part of her enough, both his arms move around her and drag her down on top of him. They both gasp at the feeling of their naked chests touching.

She pulls back and moves to undo his pants as he does the same to her, and before long they're both naked. Kara moves to straddle his hips, knowing they're not going to last long touching each other like that. She slides her slick flesh over his shaft and watches his eyes roll back in his head and his hands search for her skin. He places his hands on her hips and moves her up and down his shaft, but not in her yet.

"Kara." His warning comes out strained. She positions him to enter her and slowly moves her warmth around him. He bucks under her and shutters as he is buried to the hilt inside of her. And then they are both moving frantically, desperately against one another. Kara's moans fill the room as do his. Kara's walls begin to move slightly as the pleasure builds and Leoben looses it, pumping into her, draining himself into her. He pants, knowing she didn't fall with him. She looks down at him and smiles.

"I knew that was going to happen." She says extracting herself from him. He pulls her next to him and graces a hand down her body and back up before he kisses her. She returns the passion, aching with need still. He feels her body respond to him and moves his hand down the front of her body again and brings his fingers to gently part her intimate flesh. She gasps at the unexpected touch. His fingers continue their path down to her opening and he thrusts his fingers inside of her as his tongue thrusts against hers. She makes a noise and moves against his hand as he positions his thumb to move in circles around her bundle of nerves.

Her body arches away from his breaking their kiss as she rolls over onto her back. He follows her movement with his body, pressing himself against the length of her, watching her face intently as his hand continues to move in and out of her. He sits up and moves between her thighs so he can use both hands on her sensitive areas. She thrashes and pants beneath him as the orgasm begins slowly. He moves between her thighs and thrusts into her once again. It's too soon for his body, and he doesn't care. She gasps arching off of the bed once again. His arms wrap around her waist and press her flush against him as he sits back on his heels. He moves her up and down his throbbing shaft as her breath comes out in moans. He moves his hand between them to rub her while he pumps in and out of her. She closes her eyes as the orgasm starts and she is lost in the sensation.

She twitches as he continues to move inside of her. He moves both hands to her hips and thrusts into her, feeling her second wave of ecstasy start. She goes limp after the second time and he moves to lay her on the bed, all the while not breaking contact. He slows the rhythm and tries to make every inch of his skin touch hers as he moves. She smiles and shivers as his body covers hers intimately.

He stops moving at some point and slips out of her warmth to lie down besides her. She snuggles against him, relishing the feeling of his skin against hers. They both lie on their sides looking into one another's eyes. She sighs.

"I missed you." He brushes a hand down her cheek. His eye lids get heavy as they lie entwined. His breathing evens out as she leans up to kiss his cheek.

"I missed you too." She whispers right before the dark envelops her.

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The days become mundane, blurring together in CAP rotations, new nuggets to train and the endless paperwork. The only thing that distinguishes the days for Kara is the conversations she usually ends up having with Leoben late at night.

One particular night three weeks after he has been moved to his new location Kara comes home to find Leoben pacing the very small space. She moves to the closet and takes off her boots before going to sit on the bed.

"What's wrong?" She finally asks after feeling worn out watching him fret. One arm is crossed across his stomach and he is biting his finger nails on the other hand. It's a stance he picked up from her. She smiles a little when she realizes that's what he is doing. He looks at her, puzzled by the question and then the immediate change in Kara's demeanor.

"What?" He asks stopping his pacing. She grins wider.

"We're starting to mimic one another." She gestures towards his stance. He looks down at himself and huffs dropping his arms to his side. Her face goes serious as she gets up to stand in front of him. He looks down but won't look at her. She places her hands on his cheeks and moves his head until she can look into his eyes, as she frequently has to do when he is so upset he cannot even articulate what is bothering him. "Tell me what's wrong." She states, not allowing for questioning.

"I'm afraid." He whispers.

"Of what?" She asks shocked. He can tear a centurion in half and he's afraid.

"Of them coming to take you away from me." He is still whispering. Her eyes are wide as he looks into her eyes. "I think they're going to try." His breath comes quicker. "Soon."

"Why now?" She asks.

"I'm not sure. They don't like how we are playing out your destiny, so the rest of my model has been trying to plot a way to lure you to them."

"How the frak do they think they'll be able to do that?"

"They don't understand love; they figure that you will love all of them simply because you love me." She makes a face at that comment and moves away from him.

"Would it make you feel better if I go armed everywhere?" She asks. A pained look crosses his face. He tries to speak three times before he gets the words out.

"I want you to kill me." He states plainly. She looks at him shocked for handful of heartbeats before her face locks into a steady glare.

"Abso-fraking-lutely not." She almost screams.

"Kara…" He begins trying to calm her down by putting his hands on her upper arms. She flings him off.

"I just got you back. Now you want to leave me because you're afraid they'll come take me from you? Nun-uh. No way. Frak you."

"It's the only way to convince them that you don't need to be forced to stay with them for you to fulfill your destiny." She moves around him, so she can now pace the room.

"That is the most idiotic idea I've ever heard. If you can't convince them from here, you're not going to convince them when you're standing in front of them."

"I can. I know I can." He stands in front of her, blocking her path. "Please Kara. I need you to do this for me." He pleads, placing his hands on her shoulders. His thumbs move under her chin and tilt her head up towards his. "Please?" He whispers. He presses his lips against her brow. She shakes her head over and over again. He tries to pull her against him and she pushes him off.

"How can you ask me this?" She whispers, knowing he can hear her from any corner of their small quarters. She stares at him across their quarters. His eyes plead with her. "No, and that's my final stance. And don't you dare try anything, or I will have you put back into the holding cell with Doral so they can watch you under the microscope again." He just stares at her. "I think its time you go see the shrink I've been seeing." She says, knowing the comment will hurt him. Sometimes people say things in relationships just to hurt the other one. His eyes harden.

"I can see what you're doing."

"Oh yeah, and what is that?"

"Piss me off so I stop asking you to do this." He uncrosses his arms and just stands there. "I'm asking you to do this for me, for us. Months ago you would have on sight. Why not do it when I ask it of you?"

"Because _I _need you. Because I want you here, with me. Like this. Fighting, frakking, talking. I don't want to lose you again. I'm not sure I can handle it."

"You never lost me."

"Yes I did. Even you said your body felt alien to you. Imagine how it felt for me? Have you ever imagined what that would be like?"

"Yes. I imagined how it would be to be out in the fleet killing cylons everyday, wondering if it was me you were killing, or something that looked like me. Or the taunts you've received or the loneliness in being the only person experiencing this. I imagined how hard it would be to _actually _be human and find out I was married to a toaster. Even now I hate the cylons, and _I'm one of them!_" He screamed out that last part. Her glare never wavered.

"You are not the only one this is hurting. You are not the only one who was lonely. You also weren't being beaten to a pulp for information you didn't posses. You chose not to see me; I didn't have a choice to see you. I wasn't allowed to try to speak to you, or write to you. So frak you, Kara in all your self-righteous indignation." He was yelling at her and he didn't care.

The silence they had been building between the two of them was becoming blaringly obvious to him over the past few months and all at once was tumbling out of his mouth. He knew he needed to tell her that she'd hurt him. The fear of losing her to the cylons made him lose it a little bit, to the point he couldn't stop himself from saying hateful things to her. But they were true, they were all true. She smiled viciously at him, realizing what he was trying to do.

"I. Am. Not. Going. To. Kill. You." She enunciates each word very carefully as she moved across the room towards him. "Yes, I abandoned you. Yes I am a mother frakker for letting you rot. I already know that. But I will not intentionally kill you so that you can appease your own guilt."

"That's not…" He began as he stared down into her hazel eyes as she moved into his personal space. She poked a finger into his chest, pushing him backwards towards the bed.

"Oh yes it is." She pushes him onto the bed. "You want to prove to me, to you, to the whole fleet that you're not just a machine. That you're not just a cylon sleeper agent waiting to kill every last one of us." She strips her jacket off and straddles him. "You want to prove to me that you love me." She says fiercely as her mouth possesses his. She pushes him onto his back while her mouth possesses his. He barely responds until she moves her arms to capture his and raise them above his head.

"Stop trying to prove it, and prove it." She hisses, pulling her mouth off of his. He looks at her for a moment before struggling to wrap his arms around her. Mostly he is feigning it, and she knows it. "I said stop trying, you frakking toaster."

Her words pierce him, she watches as it flashes through his eyes. He moves his body suddenly against hers, sitting upright and taking both of her wrists in one hand and forcing them behind her back. His other hand jerks at the material covering her torso. The fabric of her tanks gives a sick ripping sound as it shreds.

He smiles up at her cruelly as he notices a little O of surprise on her lips. He releases her arms and uses both hands to pull apart the stretchy bra. The movement sends her breasts bumping against his hands and then his face is upon her. He grabs her by her upper arms and rolls her over so that he is on top.

The button off her pants flies off in some direction, as he continues to use his strength on her. She finally responds by clawing at his shirt. He pulls the material off, not caring or noticing how the material rips. She tries to lean up and bite his neck, but his hands, having finished removing their clothes, have now moved to trap her beneath him once again. She gasps as he takes her, roughly pulling her hips into his. She makes a strangled moan as she thrashes, trying to make her body contact his in any way.

His rhythm is short and hard. Kara begins making loud noises as the pleasure and the pain melt into one another.

"Leoben." She rasps as she tries to arch against him. His hands hold her down as he feels her orgasm, with his coming right behind hers. He puts his brow to hers and says between gasps.

"Don't call me a toaster." He looks into her eyes, releasing her hips. She bucks underneath him and a pained look crosses his face.

"Then don't ask me to kill the man I love." She hisses and bucks again, feeling the pleasure build again.

"Stop that." He says breathlessly. She does it again.

"Why?"

"I'm too sensitive." He gasps as he grabs her hips and slips out of her. He collapses besides her on the bed. He gathers her into his arms, pressing his face into her neck. She sighs, sated.

"Feel better?" She asks pulling his head back by his hair to look him in the eyes. He doesn't look like he feels better.

"Slightly." He admits. She looks at him suspiciously. He sighs, "I'm still worried." He confesses. "I don't think that is going to go away just because we yell at one another."

"Or have mind blowing sex, where you rip my clothes off." He actually blushes when she mentions that. "Awe, how cute, my toaster is blushing." She mocks him. He looks very unhappy at her new nick name for him.

"First you say you can't kill the man you love and then you start calling me a toaster, which is it babe? You're indecision is giving me whiplash."

"I think of you as a man. My man, in fact. But it is nice to play with the other side." She says lazily pulling her tanks towards them. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Maybe." He admits getting up to put clothes on. "But next time it won't be because you piss me off." He snaps.

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Galactica, Starbuck. We have raiders in bound." Kara reports while leading CAP several months later. They don't come as frequently but when they do, the cylons seem bound and determined to board Galactica. _Strange that they never board any other ship_, Kara thinks as she moves out of the fleet and directly towards the threat.

"Copy that Starbuck. Launching alert fighters." Dee's voice comes over the comm.

"Let's make sure there's nothing left." Starbuck signals Minus and Girly, her newest rook. They break off into a semblance of a formation, keeping the cylons away from the fleet. The alert fighters catch up as the rest of the fleet begins to jump. Several heavy raiders have been launched and are making a break for Galactica. Kara swears and follows one that's broken through the line. She manages to tag its left side before it ducks and skids onto the flight pod.

"Galactica, Starbuck. You've got a heavy raider in the starboard flight pod."

"Starbuck, Galactica. We're deploying marines." Kara does an about face and returns to the fight. She could try to pick off the cylons as they exit the raider but she'd likely hit the deck and making the flight pod into Swiss cheese didn't sound very productive.

"All fighters, Galactica. Return to the barn. I repeat, come on home. Combat landings authorized." Dee's voice crackles over the comm.. The pilots make their landings moments before Galactica jumps. Kara is one of the last fighters to be moved down to the hangar bay. She sighs as she waits in her viper. If the flying wasn't so fun, she defiantly couldn't handle all of the sitting around. And the paperwork, endless stacks of paperwork.

By the time she is doing her post flight shutdown the deck is almost deserted, everyone going off to hit the showers or catch some rack time. Kara moves to file her after action report before she hits the head, trying to avoid the lines. She is sitting in the mess writing her report when over the comm. commander Gaeta's voice booms.

"Set condition one throughout the ship, decompression of deck z. We're being boarded." Kara stands up and grabs her paperwork. She stops at the CAGs office on her way to her locker for her side arm. Lee is stumbling out of his office, obviously just waking up.

"Sitrep?" He asks her. She shrugs as she begins to run towards her locker. She clears three decks before she reaches hers and Leoben's quarters.

"What is going on?" He asks, setting down his book as she enters. She looks at him suspiciously as she raises the gun level with his head.

"Who am I?" She asks.

"Kara." He says simply.

"Who was I at the masked party?" She growls. He smiles, viciously and she knows before he answers that he is not Leoben.

"Aphrodite." The cylon grins, knowing she's aware that he is not her husband. She squeezes the trigger and watches the blood flow down his neck as he smiles, the whole time. _Creepy_, Kara thinks to convulses and slowly moves to the phone.

"Combat." Dee's voice is clear if not a little higher pitched than usual.

"Combat, Starbuck. They've taken Leoben and tried to replace him with an imposter."

"Aye, Starbuck. Clear the decks as you go, we will alert the others." She hangs up the comm. and wonders if anyone will just shoot him on site. She takes off down the hall running. The metal cylons are so easy to hear coming down the hall, even over her heated footsteps that she is well hidden by the time they turn the corner. She turns after they've past her and moves further up the deck. She gets up another deck before running into another number two model leading two chrome jobs. She almost runs right into him as he is just standing there.

"Kara?" He questions.

"Ah Hades." She whispers. She knows its not her husband when his hand locks on her upper arm like a vice, nor does he return the knowledge of the night at Helo's party. He reaches for her gun and she hands it over, knowing she'll never make it away from him _and_ the two centurions with him. They walk down deck by deck. Kara feels a sense of dread wash over her as she realizes no one even knows they're there.

As they open the hatch to where the heavy raider has a soft seal on the underbelly of Galactica, there are two more two models waiting for them. She recognizes her husband's shirt on one of them but stares straight ahead, too lost to hope that it really is him. The other two not wearing her husband's shirt speaks.

"You found her."

"It wasn't hard. She came to us."

"As we knew she would." The other one said. The two holding onto her arm leaned into her and breathed her in. As he passed by her ear he whispered, "Persephone." Kara kept her eyes trained straight ahead, making her body very still. She rethought that and struggled against her husband, to make it look like he'd said something inappropriate. He raised the gun and shot both the other models before the centurions could respond.

As Leoben turned and ripped the head off of the closest centurion, he passed the gun to Kara. She shot the other one in the head, making both their ears ring.

"We have to get out of this hall way." She screams at him. He nods through the ringing in his ears and grabs her hand. As they turn the corner, two more centurions appear. Kara takes aim at the first and it collapses to the ground. The other cylon has managed to get a few shots off before Kara takes aim at it. The red light goes black as it falls to the ground.

"Kara?" Leoben rasps, surprised as he touches his chest and falls into her. She gasps as she loops an arm around her husband's waist. She looks down at the blood that's beginning to flow from him. She can hear the air whistling through the punctured lung as she begins to move towards sick bay.

Half way to sick bay Leoben sags completely in Kara's arms and she stumbles at the additional weight. No one will stop to help her. "Kara, stop please." He manages to get out. She tries a few more steps before she moves to slide him down against the nearest wall. There is blood every where as she tries to stop the bleeding. His hands move over hers and he tries to smile.

"I love you." He chokes out. She leans into him.

"And I love you. Don't leave me." She whispers against his cheek as she holds him. She pulls back to look into his eyes but the light is already gone. She smoothes a hand across his cheek as the tears begin to fall.

The hallway is filled with the mechanical clicking and weight of several centurions. Kara moves towards the hatch near Leoben's body, crouching down. She only has a few more rounds and the closest small arms locker is a deck away. She glances down the hall around the hatch recess. There are 4 centurions walking back to where the ship is docked. They stop briefly and take note of one of their fallen comrades on the floor then continue to move on. Kara sighs and moves down the hall the opposite way, going for more ammunition. She picks up the phone and calls combat.

"Combat." Dee's voice calls out.

"Combat, Starbuck. They've killed my husband. All other copies of the cylon model two can be destroyed."

"Aye sir. We've got two down in the detention cell with Doral."

"Thank-you petty officer." Kara knows she shouldn't go interact with them, but goes down anyways. One of them picks up the phone on the inside of the holding cell, Kara picks up the phone on the outside. "Is there a hub near by?" She chokes out. The model looks confused for a moment and then smiles broadly.

"No. There isn't." Her stomach flips and she sinks to the floor, dropping the phone. The number two keeps talking into the receiver but Kara can't hear anything. The marines find her like that hours later.

TBC...


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, I just play with them.

A month later….

Kara returns to the pilot's bunk room, giving up the private quarters to someone who needs privacy. She needs to be around people, although most are still a little leery of the cylon lover. She takes to spending a lot of time with her paperwork and in the pilots' rec room playing cards and drinking far too much.

She returned once to the Temptation to visit with the crew, but that had brought up far too many memories of him. She spent most of her time there locked in her old room trying not to have a break down. She'd grabbed the few photos she had of their wedding and headed back to Galactica as soon as there was a transport within range.

Today was exceptionally hard to take; it would have been their three year anniversary. Kara doesn't notice what day it is until after her first few hours teaching the nuggets. She stops, realizing the date, when she's filling out a report on how the nuggets are doing. Her face hardens as the pain hits, and then her face crumbles and she's crying. _Gods I'm so sick of crying_, she thinks to herself. She wipes the tears away and goes to get some food before CAP.

After CAP Kara drags out the last bottle of ambrosia from the depths of her locker. She makes her way to the observation deck, which is blissfully deserted since there is a triad game on Galactica and a pyramid game on the Rising Star. She sits in front of the window sighing to herself as she breaks the seal of the liquor.

Leoben stiffens in pain as he downloads into a new body for the first time. He thrashes in the transfer goo, not understanding that he is in fact alive. He stops when he realizes another person is standing next to the tank. He looks over, dread filling him. It's a copy of himself. He sighs with relief. He wasn't sure he could deal with this experience _and_ another new cylon at the same time. The other two looks down at Leoben.

"We have waited for you for a long time." The two speaks not looking at Leoben.

"Why?" He croaks out.

"Well, we had hoped that it would be with her, but this will do. We've been waiting for you to rejoin us."

"Yeah, I got that part. You still haven't said why."

The two sighs, "We're not entirely sure why you should be here we just feel the rightness of it, do you not?" He asks shocked by even the thought that Leoben wouldn't feel exactly as he did.

"Well, as I've been explaining for almost a year now, I do not feel the same things you and the others feel. I've been human my whole life, I feel human. Hell I'm even sarcastic like a human, so excuse me if I don't "feel the rightness" of the situation. Can I get a towel or something? This goo is disgusting." He wipes as much goo off as he can. The other two looks offended.

"That _goo_ made you into the being you're standing as now."

"That's very nice of it; I still would like to get it off of me." Leoben says standing and waiting expectantly. "Hey I can just walk all around the ship dragging this stuff everywhere if you'd prefer." He carefully steps out of the tub, trying not to slip. The other two moves across the room and fetches a towel.

"You're definitely not what I expected." The two frowns as his eye brows knit together. Leoben laughs. The giddiness of being alive and whole has hit him now and he feels a little out of sorts.

"Well I didn't expect any of this." He towels off the remaining stuff from the tank. "Clothes?"

"Many of us choose not to wear clothes."

"You have clothes." Leoben comments. "I'd prefer clothes for now, thanks. Where are we?"

"A base star."

"Duh, where is the base star? I mean I had to resurrect close to the fleet. Are you still following the fleet?" Leoben can hear the hope seeping into his voice and grimaces knowing he's given himself away already.

"We are currently looking for the fleet; unfortunately they jumped away again as soon as you were killed. Seems they captured two of the two models also. They haven't returned to us, so we're assuming they're alive. Although they may be out of transmitting distance. We're just not sure." The two points over to where the clothes are, Leoben moves to put them on. "The others have called a meeting for you in a few minutes. They all want to hear what you have to say about your destiny."

"So someone knows about my destiny?" He looks puzzled.

"Something more like. You'll be meeting with the hybrid."

"What is a hybrid?" Leoben asks moving to follow the other model down the hall.

"Something between us and the centurions. More knowledgeable than all of us. They see the past, present and future of everything, just not in a continuous stream. Sometimes they'll speak of the past and the future in the same sentence. It is up to interpretation." The other model spreads his hands wide. He motioned for Leoben to go in front of him into a room.

In the middle of the room there was a humanoid looking cylon in a pool of the same goo Leoben had just climbed out of. She was speaking to no one in particular, which Leoben found odd and he stated so.

"We're not sure why they speak aloud. For certain they could operate without speaking but for some reason our parents decided the hybrids should speak." He motions for Leoben to get closer.

As Leoben gets closer he can hear the types of things the hybrid is saying. Most are about the ship and its operations.

"She controls the ship?"

"You sound surprised."

"A little." He moves up closer and kneels next to the hybrid. Her attention is elsewhere.

"Does she know we're here?"

"Yes the light of two twos come closer, end line." She answers for herself. Leoben looks down astonished. He has no idea how long he sits there committing every word to memory. He doesn't even notice when the other two sits across the pool from him, all he notices are the strange words coming from the hybrids mouth.

"Persephone waits to be awakened into Aurora as the light of the two melds with hers, end line. Correct oxygen input by 0.6 parts per billion, end line."

Leoben closes his eyes, understanding part of the message. He smiles as he realizes it also means he will be reunited with her. He just wishes he knew when that would be.

Lee finds Kara in the observation lounge about one fourth of the way into her bottle of ambrosia. She's put it aside and is just staring out at the stars. He comes to stand next to her. She jumps when he speaks not realizing anyone had entered the lounge.

"You ok?" He asks not looking at her.

"No." She says. "Go away Lee." She'd purposely come here to be alone.

"No Kara. You need to talk to someone."

"And you figure its going to be you?" She says heatedly. She swings her legs to the ground and gets up grabbing her bottle. He stands his ground, not afraid of Kara's violent and unpredictable mood swings. She tries to move around him but he grabs her arm.

"You need a friend. I thought I was your friend."

"When it's convenient for you."

"What does that mean?" He scowls down at her as he holds tight on her arm. She rips her arm out of his grip, knowing he's bruised her in the process of trying to hold her. She moves up into his face.

"It means, sir that while I was struggling with coming to terms that I had inadvertently married a cylon, you wouldn't talk to me, look at me, eat in the mess with me. And now, now that the man I love is gone, you're ready to be friends again. Go frak yourself Lee." She tries to push past him once again.

"Just because I didn't understand your choice and didn't want to talk to you about your cylon lover doesn't mean that I'm not your friend."

"Really? Well you could've fooled me."

"Really." He sighs and looks down slightly. "I'm sorry I've been avoiding you. I guess I don't understand how you could come to terms with having a cylon husband. It confused me. Hell it still confuses me. But I know you're hurting. I've seen you in the pilots mess. You're loosing yourself." He sighs and looks into her eyes. "I don't want to lose my best pilot."

Kara sighs and looks away for the moment. She'd tried not to let losing most of her friends get to her but losing Lee really got to her. They'd know each other since academy days and she'd almost been part of his family. Hell most days she was part of the family. Tears come to her eyes as she thinks about all the family she's lost recently. Before she realizes it she steps up and embraces Lee. She feels his shock as it takes him a while to hug her back.

"I've missed you." Kara says softly which comes out muffled against the softness of Lee's sweatshirt.

"I've missed you too." He says holding her tighter.

TBC...


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Not mine, I just play with the characters.

Leoben finds life on the basestar strange after so much time in the makeshift prison aboard Galactica. He's allowed to move around the ship wherever he'd like. He meets with many different models and finds that most don't have names. He begins to mark the difference between the ones he speaks to. When he is alone he tries to figure out how he can make it back to the fleet.

One day Leoben is invited to a meeting with some of the other models. They're voting on whether to try to kidnap Kara.

"No." He says simply.

"Why not?" Cavil says. "The hybrid has been telling us for a year now that Kara Thrace is Aurora; The goddess of light and the one that will lead us to our home."

"Does the hybrid say she has to be here with you for that to occur?" Leoben asks rather calmly.

"The hybrid has predicted that if Kara is left in the fleet she will lead the fleet to the Promised Land, not us. So yes she has stated that Kara needs to be here to lead us." D'anna states. Leoben sighs.

"Let's put this to a vote." Cavil says.

"You haven't even heard why you shouldn't kidnap her." He says, his voice rising in panic.

"Very well." D'anna says.

"If you take her, she will fight. She will fight every day. She will make you break her before she will lead you anywhere."

"So?" The models say in unison.

"I would think it would be better if she were whole and complete to lead us."

"And how do you think that will happen?"

"Leave her where she is. Follow the fleet. The promise land should be large enough that the humans will never even have to see us." At this comment the sixes and the eights look hopeful.

"If they find us, they will try to destroy us." Cavil says with finality. "Come let us put it to a vote." The ones, twos, fours and fives all vote to continue with the missions to try to capture Kara. Leoben stares at the other copy of him and feels sick. One of the centurions comes in and "says" something to Cavil. He smiles wickedly and turns to Leoben.

"Would you come with us?" He says ominously. Leoben nods slightly and follows Cavil. He is taken to the docking bay, a place he rarely goes. He looks puzzled at Cavil and then he hears it. He hears her voice. She is screaming at something and from the sounds of it she is smacking the centurion guard. Before he realizes what he is doing he's moving towards her, towards the sound of her voice.

A centurion stops him before he gets close but he notices she stops struggling a little when she sees him, and then she is throwing her whole body into fighting her captors. One of the one models smacks her across the face and Leoben loses it. He grabs the centurion and tears it to pieces, along with his hands. He barely notices as he walks swiftly to her. He grabs the Ones arm as he raises it to strike at her again and dislocates the Ones shoulder. The centurion guard lets go of her arms and moves to assist the One.

"Enough." Cavil says. The centurions stop advancing and Leoben lets go of the other one model before moving swiftly to embrace Kara.

"Persephone." He whispers into her ear. He hears her breath catch and pulls away to look into her eyes. He notices she looks at him in disbelief, pain washing over her face as she looks at him. He presses her against him again, to make that look go away. "Oh gods Kara I've missed you."

"But you're dead." She says numbly. "I watched you die. The other two said there wasn't a hub near by…" Her voice trailed off at the end. "Did you do this?" She pushes away from him angrily realizing it might have been his plan to take her.

"No it wasn't his plan or decision and he wasn't included until the final vote which he voted against taking you, but the point was really moot by then. We already had you." Cavil steps up next to the couple. "Leoben why don't you take her to your quarters and let her settle down a bit before she goes to see the hybrid."

Kara looks confused from her husband to the priest she'd met on the Battlestar a while back. She knew there was a reason he gave her the creeps. Leoben takes her hand and leads her away from the docking bay.

"How long have I been gone?" He asks as they walk the halls.

"Four months now." She says quietly. His body jerks at that realization.

"Did they stop attacking once they had me?"

"For a while." She says absentmindedly. She moves up to stand in front of him staring once again. "This can't be real. I've had dreams like this before."

"Dreams where you're kidnapped?" He asks amused slightly.

"Well, no. But I've had dreams that you were alive. Dreams so real that I looked for you the next day only to discover you were gone." She heaves a sigh. "And yet here you are." She slips her hand into his. "Healthy and whole."

He stops in the corridor and his hand moves to her face and he traces her features lightly. She closes her eyes. "I dream about you every night. Maybe this is my dream and I'll wake in the morning looking for you. But it feels real." He comments the last part almost to himself as if he's trying to convince himself that she is real and there within his grasp.

Kara is keenly aware of other models of cylons passing them by. "Can we take this somewhere else?" She asks unnerved at how they're staring at her and Leoben. He begins walking again. "So what did he mean by taking me to the hybrid?"

"Ah. The hybrid sees the patterns of what is there, whether it's the past, present or the future."

"She's like their oracle?" Kara asks a bit confused that machines would have made a model for predicting the future.

"Well they are used to pilot the ships. They're intimately integrated into the ships computers. For some unknown reason they speak out loud and what they say can be interpreted as predictions."

"Do you believe they're predictions?" She asks as he leads her into his quarters. Kara notices there are things left around; His shirt on the ground, a book and cup on the table. She smiles and feels better just having things around that look human. The rest of the ship with its surgical cleanliness was starting to give her the creeps.

"I believe they're ambiguous enough to be predictions. So far she hasn't told me much."

"You've seen her?"

"Yes."

"What did she tell you?"

"And I quote "Persephone awaits to be awakened into Aurora as the light of the two melds with hers". My designation is two onboard. You have been my Persephone for years now." She opens her mouth to protest. "You are always away from me for a few months at a time. I may not have kidnapped you and fooled you into staying with me forever but you are my Persephone. Well I may have fooled you into staying with me." He finished smiling sadly. She purses her lips at that comment.

"I came back willingly." She says turning to him. "I married you willingly. And I can't be Persephone. What do you think she meant by Aurora? The one who leads them into daylight? And how will our light meld? You're right that is a bit ambiguous." He steps up to her and pulls her arms around his neck as he moves his hands down her sides and pulls her close.

"I can think of a few ways to meld." He says suggestively.

-------------------------------------------------------------

"How can you expect me to lead you to Earth?" Kara asks outraged as she sits across the table from the priest and one of the six models.

"The hybrid has said you will." Six spreads her hands as if that is enough of an explanation.

"What I mean is how can you expect me to cooperate with you when you've nukes my home world, killed my husband and kidnapped me? You're not even sure how I'm supposed to help." She sighs.

"We're sure it's with the two model. Whether or not that means your husband is still up for debate." Kara's mouth drops.

"You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting." Leoben speaks the shock at the implication of what Cavil had just indicated.

"We're not suggesting anything." Six says calmly. "We're simply asking that you be open to assisting us." Kara shakes her head.

"No. If I understand correctly I am to lead _everyone_ to Earth, not just the cylons and not just the humans."

"Look what the humans do to their planets. They turn on one another killing, raping, desecrating God's gifts. They are unworthy of the gift of Earth." Another one of the twos rants.

"Gods that's still creepy. And I _am_ human you stupid toaster. You just listed a lot of reasons to hate humanity, sure but what about the cylons? You nuked 12 colonies. Caprica City had 7 million inhabitants alone. You desecrated the gods' gifts as well, so you tell me why you're so much more entitled to Earth than the humans."

"We are God's children. We were chosen to rid the universe of your species."

"Oh yeah? And who told you that? Your hybrids? Or did you come up with that all on your own?" Kara sneered leaning across the table towards Cavil. Cavil inclines his head a fraction and two centurions come up behind Leoben, her Leoben, and takes him by the arms.

"If you will not agree to just accompany us we will force your hand." Cavil says calmly. Before Kara can turn the centurions snap Leoben's neck. She winces at the sound and turns back to look at Cavil, finally understanding how completely nuts he really is.

"He'll just come back." She states.

"Yes but we'll keep killing him. Maybe not immediately but each time we ask and are refused, we will kill him." Kara's eyes flick over Six's face, who is completely horrified. The other two that had been sitting next to Leoben looked slightly amused. Kara felt sick.

"Escort our guest back to Leoben's quarters." The other two model jumps up at that. Six stands calmly and intervenes.

"I'm sure Kara would like some different clothes. I will escort her back and see to her needs." When they're far enough away Six speaks. "That was not part of the plan."

"He's completely nuts isn't he?"

"He didn't used to be but I think being trapped on this vessel is starting to get to him. His model was on Caprica before the attacks."

"Well thank-you for saving me from the other two. Why are some of them so creepy?"

"We're not sure. Part of it is their obsession with you and your Leoben. They've had years to study the hybrid's prophesies. They feel like they've known you longer than your model. At least that's my guess. I'll bring your husband by when he's finished downloading." She says almost cheerily as she leaves Kara alone with a pile of clean clothes.

TBC...


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own these charcters. I just borrow them for a little while every now and again.

Side note: Sorry it took soooooo long to update. I moved, got a promotion (yes I wanted to brag about it, its a big deal for me); unfortunatly it means I work 50+ hrs a week and I'm starting school again. I'll try to keep up but it's going to be more sporatic than it was before. So sorry! Thanks for reading! And sticking with it.

Hours later…

Kara stands as Leoben enters. He tries to cross the small space to her but she backs up quickly. He looks at her puzzled.

"We have a problem." She says moving around the desk.

"What's wrong?"

"Everyone knows about Persephone. I don't have a way to tell its you." He sighs and thinks about the memories of Kara that only he would know.

"I remember how red Lee got when I mentioned I knew what got you thrown in hack." He tilts his head and watches her reaction. She reluctantly stops backing away from him as he advances on her. "What happened in there?" He asks as he wraps his arms around her and pulls her tightly against his chest. She pulls back to look into his face.

"Cavil will kill you every time I refuse to help them find Earth."

He looks confused. After a long while he speaks, "Don't let him bully you. Eventually they'll stop when they realize it won't work." She breaks away from him and paces the room.

"Do you know how hard it was to watch you die the first time? And this time all I heard was that sickening snap. I don't know how many times I can do that. And what if they start torturing you? I know I can't handle that."

"Kara, you can't give in."

"I'm telling you they're going to kill _you_ and you're convincing me to let them?"

"Well yes. I don't want the cylons to find Earth either. What if they don't like what they find? Will they nuke it too? I just can't rationalize turning it over. Kara, stop pacing." He says as he sits on the bed. She sighs and joins him. "You can do this. In fact I'm asking you to do this. To be courageous and not cooperate. I realize it will hurt both of us, but if we've made it this far, we'll survive this too."

"Always the optimist."

* * *

A week later Kara watches as the centurions carry Leoben's body out of the room for the fifth time. She stopped crying after the third time. Now she was feeling murderous herself as she stands restrained next to Cavil.

Hours later Leoben joins Kara back in their room. There are two centurion guards posted outside of their quarters now restricting their movements around the ship. He shakes her shoulder as she sleeps on the bed. Last time he'd just slipped in besides her after he'd resurrected she'd damn near killed him again.

"Kara?" He says softly sitting on the bed. She wakes with a start, pain moves across her face as she looks at him.

"Who am I?"

"My wife. The woman who asked me to wear my glasses on our first date." He's come up with several events that the other cylons wouldn't know about. She kneels and crawls across the bed towards him. She collapses in his arms just before she starts crying.

"I can't do this." She whispers. He stiffens and tries to pull away. She holds tightly to him for a very long time. When she finally loosens her grip he moves to kiss her.

"You can do this. Look I'm ok."

"Well I'm not. Obviously." She says wiping her hand across her eyes. "We have to figure something else out. I can't keep watching you die. I'm starting to have nightmares about it."

"Shh." He shushes her as he presses her head to his chest and lies on the bed with her. "We'll figure something out." Kara falls back asleep as she listens to his breathing.

* * *

A week later Kara, Leoben and the Six from the initial meeting have a plan. It's risky but it's better than watching Leoben die over and over again.

Six passes the gun to Kara when she brings her fresh clothes for the day. As Kara dresses she places the gun in the back of her pants and swings the sweatshirt back in place. She knows they'll ask again today as the two centurions come to escort Kara and Leoben to Cavil.

"So, Kara, what is your decision today?" He asks in that sickening voice. She looks at him before pulling the gun and pointing it at his face. "Tsk. I will just resurrect, you know that." Cavil motions to the centurions to stand down. Kara smiles her most insane Starbuck smile and turns the gun on herself. Cavil, Six and Leoben all freeze; this was not the plan.

"Oh yeah? Well I won't. Tell the centurions to leave." He waves them off hurriedly not taking his eyes off of her. She notices them leaving out of the corner of her eye. "Alright this is how this is going to work: you're going to let us take a heavy raider, and you're going to point us in the direction of the fleet." Cavil looks at her skeptically. "In return I will send you our next jump coordinates. I only ask that you stay out of our dradis range. That way you will be coming to Earth with us." Six looks hopeful at the plan. Leoben looks disgusted and Cavil looks petrified. "One last condition: If you attack the fleet, all bets are off. Besides you could kill me, you never know."

"How do I know I can trust you?" Cavil asks.

"You don't, but if you think I'm going to watch you kill my husband another 20 plus times, you're sadly mistaken. I'd rather die than be put through that pain over and over again." Leoben studies Kara's face carefully when realization dawns on him.

"She'll do it." He whispers. "Oh gods, she'll actually do it." Cavil looks at him astonished. The Six model keeps her mouth shut but she knows too that the infamous Starbuck would, in that moment, end her life. Cavil looks between Leoben and Kara and lets out a frustrated sigh.

"Fine. I'll trust you. What will we do when we find Earth?"

"If you stop attacking the fleet, it may be possible to open up treaty talks. I know President Roslin was willing to try that in the beginning. Now, let's get going." She motions for Cavil to walk in front of her. Leoben falls in step next to her, giving her a look like he doesn't even know her.

"You want me to believe that you're going to be our ambassador?" Cavil asks with his awkward smile as he leads them to the hanger bay.

"In essence, yes." Kara says.

"The only reason I'm letting you go is because we can't afford to lose you and the fleet is easy enough to track."

"I don't really care why you're letting us go. Just get me off this ship. Do you have the coordinates of the fleet?" She asks. Cavil walks onto the heavy raider and programs it quickly. He looks back out at Kara and Leoben and sighs heavily again. _At least they'll be together_, the thought crosses his mind briefly.

"Yes. They're already programmed in. I will never understand humans." Cavil comments then turns to leave, followed by six.

Kara and Leoben board the heavy raider. Leoben surprisingly takes the controls, and maneuvers them away from the basestar before the FTL begins to spin up. He looks across the ship towards his wife. She is sitting in the corner shaking.

"Kara?" He moves towards her. "Kara you have to come to the comm. so they don't blow us out of the air when we get within dradis of the fleet." He kneels down next to her. She doesn't seem to hear him. He takes the gun from her hand and that is the first time she seems to notice he's there. She looks up at him as he kneels over her.

"What?"

"You need to come to the comm." He says. She allows him to help lift her up and they make it to the comm. right before the raider jumps. As their dradis starts to pick up the fleet, Kara presses a button to speak to the fleet. She gives her colonial identification code and her call sign and rank and then they wait. Two vipers come along side and escort the heavy raider to Galactica.

When the hatch opens they're greeted by marines and the XO, who looks a little too smug about the whole situation. Kara and Leoben are separated, much to Kara's distress. After watching him die over and over, she was a little protective. Her protests are ignored as she is escorted to life station while Leoben is put into the holding cell with Doral.

Five hours later Kara returns to the bunk room. They were looking into getting her and Leoben some quarters since Leoben and Doral weren't exactly getting along. She'd gone to talk to him after her medical exam but couldn't say much with Doral right there. The commander asked the quarter master to page Kara the moment something was available and that she was free to have one of the marines escort Leoben to wherever they ended up.

Before the quarter master can find a suitable place Kara is called to the Ward Room to be debriefed by the admiral and the president. She puts her dress blues on and waits patiently in the room as the commander and president stop whispering amongst themselves.

"Captain Thrace, it's good to have you back with us." The president starts. Kara's guard goes up immediately. The president was usually cordial with her but that was down right friendly. The admiral's face betrayed no emotion. _Maybe they're playing bad cop, good cop_, Kara thinks.

"It's good to be back sir."

"Can you tell us what happened?"

Kara launches into her story which takes the better part of an hour to explain. By the end the president looks horrified at what Cavil had implied and the admiral looks a little sick about how Kara convinced them to let her go.

"Well Kara, we're glad to have you back. You said that Cavil will not attack the fleet as long as you keep sending them communications?"

"Yes sir. They can already track us and I wanted to at least try to get them to stop attacking us. This will gain a little trust and we lose nothing, except now we know the cylons basically wait just outside of our dradis and jump with us every time."

"I don't like it." The admiral states.

"Neither do I sir, but isn't it better to know they're there than to think we might have finally evaded them?" Kara asks the Admiral.

"When we go to jump I'll have Dee scramble a message to the cylons. Did they say how you were going to lead us to earth?"

"The hybrid said that somehow my light would merge with Leoben's and then I would find the path. They were really unclear as to how or when that would happen. In fact some of the models thought it had already happened with us being married."

"So they didn't exactly help?"

"No, mostly verbal salad sir. They don't seem to be able to decipher their hybrids wandering thoughts any more than we can our oracles."

"You're dismissed Captain Thrace. Oh Doc Cottle said that you were experiencing some PTSD and you would be off the CAP rotation and flying until further notice." The admiral stands and walks to the door. He grabs Kara and hugs her. "Don't scare me like that again." He says gruffly as he pushes her through the hatch.

Kara goes to bother the quarter master and finds that in the hour or so in the presences of the admiral and president that Leoben had already been transferred to a small room. She finds her way there, almost running to get there.

Leoben is lying on the bed when Kara pushes the door open. She closes it behind her so the nosy marine guarding their quarters doesn't get a show. She is in his arms before she can think about it, the space so small it takes less than 5 steps to get to his embrace. He pulls her down onto the bed with him and sighs a sigh of relief as he breathes her in, knowing that Cavil or Six isn't going to come through the door and kill him at any random moment.

Kara buries her face in his neck and breathes in the scent of the man she's completely in love with. She knows she'll eventually have to deal with the fact that she would rather die than watch him be killed over and over again but now is not the time. For now she's content to breathe him in and hold him.

TBC....


	20. Chapter 20

"I'm sick of talking about this!" Kara vents at the onboard counselor. "I just want to be cleared for flight status."

"Is that truly what you want Capt. Thrace?" The older man asks serenely. His name is Gil Tantum, but everyone calls him Pops. Kara hates it and made it known she wouldn't call him that if it were the last thing she did. She was stuck under his evaluation for the next month before she could be cleared for flight. _If I get cleared_, she amends inside her own head.

"You know what I truly want? I want peace. I want a place to call home. I want my husband to not be a cylon. I want to fly. And I want to stop having to see you every frakking day for the next month!" She yells.

"Have you discussed your desire for your husband to not be a cylon with him?"

"Since it's at the top of his wish list too, yeah I have."

"Have you discussed with him what it was like to watch him die over and over?" This is the part of the conversation everyday that Kara shuts down and stops talking, which might be why she has to see Gil for the next month.

Today is no different. She crosses her arms and sits back in the chair, indicating with her silence and her body that this conversation is over once again. Now she just has to sit and stare at Gil for the next 2 hours.

Kara sighs with relief as she is released for the day. She returns to her small quarters to find Leoben on the floor with star charts all over the small space.

"What's all this?" She enquires as she takes off her jacket and boots.

"Comparative analysis of scripture and star charts."

"Ah." Kara says as she sits on the floor with him. "When you're done we need to talk."

"Uh-oh. Didn't I ever tell you those are the most dreaded words in a relationship?"

"You have. I still like the dramatic effect." She grins at him. "I'm going to take a nap." She gets up and makes her way to their bed.

A few hours later Leoben hasn't moved from the star charts but Kara feels better from her nap so she decided to approach the touchy subject that Tantum had brought up that day. She knew they needed to talk about it but for once the psychologist wasn't pushing the subject, probably because she'd scared him. He would avoid a subject if he didn't feel comfortable with the reason it was occurring.

"Leoben?" She reaches out to brush a hand through his hair as he sits on the floor a short distance from the bed.

"Hum?" He says not really giving her his attention. She tugs slightly at his hair and smiles sadly as he gasps and turns to look at her. "Sorry. What were you saying?" He asks realizing his mistake.

"I haven't said anything yet but I'd like your attention for this. Would you come sit next to me?" There isn't anywhere else to sit in the small room besides the bed. Leoben gets up and joins Kara. She lets out a big sigh as she starts.

"We need to talk about how I felt about watching you die over and over." His eyes widen at her statement. _She never wants to talk about her feelings, _he thinks. The thought must have come across on his features because she smiles ever so slightly. "I know. I'm volunteering for this."

"I must be rubbing off on you." He smiles a little too. She inhales sharply before addressing the issue.

"Having to watch you die the first time, when I thought I'd lost you forever, was hard but having to repeat that nightmare over and over and over…I'm not even sure I can express how it made me feel. " Leoben notices she's taking small short breaths. He inches closer and takes her hands in his.

"I'm here now. You can tell me."

"I started to resent you, for being a cylon. For putting me in this situation, even though I know it's not your fault. It made me feel helpless that I couldn't save you. I can still hear the noises your neck made when it cracked. I can't get some of the noises out of my head." She tries to move her hands away but he just keeps holding them.

"I'm sorry." He says after a long while, not knowing what else to say.

"It's not your fault. And I didn't tell you to make you feel guilty but I, we, need to address this before it eats me up inside and I can't function or worse I can't love you any more. I don't want to resent you."

"Do you resent me now that we're back with the fleet?"

"No but I do resent myself and you for not freeing us sooner."

"We also need to talk about that."

"One trial at a time. I don't want to try to deal with everything today. I saw the fear in your eyes, I know you need to tell me how what I did to free us made you feel but let me deal with this today and we can deal with that either later today or another day that you've predetermined."

"Wow, I don't think I've just rubbed off on you. I think I've become your patient now." He smiles sadly, and then nods. "Alright we'll talk about that aspect another day. Today we need to work on how to get you to not resent me for being something I can't control and I don't really want to be."

"I know you don't. That's part of what makes this all so confusing. I don't want you to be a cylon, you don't want you to be a cylon and the damn cylons keep chasing us."

"Well, I can't change what I am obviously, since I would have changed that immediately. So how do I help you get past what they did to you by using me? And I think part of the resentment is because you don't want to have anyone they can use against you like they were using me, am I right?" She just nods. "I can't predict the future, so I can't tell you that they'll never try to use me again." He watches a pained look cross her face, then her face sets into a scowl. "Oh no you don't. Don't you dare." He says realizing that he just crystallized the easy solution.

"Why not?" She damn near growls. He pulls her hands towards him wrapping her arms around his neck and crushing her to him. She looks angrily into his eyes and scowls even harder.

"Kara Thrace I did not die all of those times to make it back to the fleet to have you leave me."

"But it would protect you."

"You mean it would protect you." She starts to struggle against him. He tightens his grip fractionally before releasing her. She gets up off the bed moving as far away as the small room will allow. "I love you." He says as he stays sitting on the bed. She nods fractionally. "Please stay." He whispers. She doesn't move towards the door but she doesn't move back to him. "There's another way to ensure they can't use me like that again." She looks at him. "Destroy the master resurrection hub."

"That only solves the problem of them killing you repeatedly. They can still use you against me."

"You can't protect everyone you love all of the time." He states. "Believe me, I'd love it if you never flew a viper again but I can't ask that of you. But it makes my heart stop every time they launch the alert fighters."

"I didn't say this was a rational fear. And I'm not even sure how to face it. It's not like being afraid of snakes so someone tries to desensitize you to them. This is a fear of you dying. A fear of being alone in the universe."

"Falling for me was a big step." She looks at him puzzled. "You opened yourself up again. To be able to love again was a big step." She sighs and looks at him. She can't honestly think of leaving him but it makes some sort of sense to her addled brain. She unfolds her arms and moves back to the bed. She reaches out to touch him.

"I don't know what to do."

"Give it time." He says moving closer to her. "Give us time. We've made it this far." He wraps his arms around her waist.

"Alright, but only because I find you unreasonably attractive." She laughs as he begins to tickle her. They leave the other part of the conversation for another day.

A few days later Leoben's analysis of the star charts turns up something interesting; by connecting the vague references to the thirteenth tribe to constellations there seemed to be a path. Kara convinces the Admiral and President to listen to his analysis. By the time he is finished the admiral looks skeptical and the president looks pensive.

"Thank-you." The president says tightly. "We will of course have to check these findings with our own scientist and theologians."

"I understand." He says. "Thank-you for listening to the ranting cylon." He smiles and turns to leave. The marines don't shackle him any more when they move him through the halls.

"Captain Thrace, a word." The admiral says as she turns to leave. Kara turns and stands at attention.

"Sir?" She asks.

"We have decided to allow you to transmit the jump coordinates and we'll see how long this armistice lasts."

"Thank-you sir."

"Did they have a plan for beginning any treaty talks?"

"No but I told them that the president was looking at peace talks before we jumped to Ragnar. If they don't attack for a while I would suggest allowing us to begin peace talks."

"Kara, please sit down." The president offers Kara a chair. Kara sits, looking and feeling a little confused. "I have a few off the record personal questions." She inclines her head and looks at Kara before speaking, "Captain, how do you feel about the cylons?"

"Um…I hate them." Kara shrugs.

"But you love your husband?"

"I do."

"How do you differentiate them?"

"Leoben's never exhibited any profane behavior like the cylons. He isn't creepy or forceful. I just don't think of him as a cylon most of the time."

"When do you think of him as a cylon?"

"When he resurrected close to 20 times. Watching him die and keep coming back definitely engrained in me that he's a cylon."

"How do you deal with that?" The president looks very confused.

"One day at a time Madam President. It's very difficult sometimes. Other times it's just like it never happened. I dunno. Why sir?"

"If we want to open up peace talks we'd like it to be you." The admiral says directly.

"What? Why?" Kara is completely shocked. "I'm not sure I could do that."

"But you can look at your husband and see a man. We're hoping that you're able to at least see the other cylons as humanoid enough so that you can convince them to stop attacking us." The president elaborates. Kara just gapes at the two leaders of the fleet. "Please think about it Kara." The president says touching her hand lightly before getting up to leave. They leave her there gaping.

After a few minutes Kara gets up to return to her and Leoben's quarters. He's asleep when she enters but the door doesn't really close quietly, so she accidentally wakes him when she closes the door. He wakes with a start and rolls over to look at her smiling slightly.

"What did they need of you?" He asks not getting up, just lounging in bed by himself.

"They want me to be the cylon ambassador." She states. He looks as shocked as she feels.

"That's odd." She nods in agreement and pulls her boots off before climbing into bed with him. He curls his body around hers. "Do you think you'll accept it?" He whispers against her neck.

"I'm not sure. I'm not sure I could be peaceful…ever. Not just to the cylons. I think they've put too much faith in me because I've adjusted to you being a cylon."

They fall asleep like that and Kara misses her appointment with Tantum. When she wakes she realizes she missed her appointment and swears but doesn't get up from bed.

Leoben wakes to the sound of a soft "frak" that falls from his angel's lips. He smiles to himself realizing that she's missed her appointment. He holds her tighter, letting her know he's awake.

"Kara?"

"Mmm?" She says closing her eyes.

"We need to talk." He says softly. Her eyes fly open and she glares at him. "Ok I need to talk to you and I need you to listen." She snorts softly. "Please." His eyes beg her to listen. She nods slightly rolling on her side towards him. "When we were leaving the base ship, when you managed to get us out of there, you really would have killed yourself wouldn't you?"

"Yes." She whispers as though it's a secret. He closes his eyes and rolls onto his back. She reaches out to touch him.

"Don't." He says loudly. He opens his eyes and rolls his head to look at her. "Don't try to make it go away."

"Tell me how it made you feel." She states withdrawing her hand. She wraps her arms around herself.

"It made me feel hurt and lonely and like I don't know my wife after four years together. It scared me that you'd take it that far with me watching. It made me wonder if you truly could love me if you could kill yourself to end your own pain."

"That's not fair." Kara whispered. "I love you."

"Then live for me. If I, no, when I die promise me you'll live for me." He makes it a statement, leaving no room for argument.

"I Promise." She sighs heavily. "But you need to promise me the same thing."

"Absolutely. You know it's much more likely I will go first."

"We don't even know if you can die permanently."

"If I'm not near a hub I won't come back."

"But if you are you can come back to a new body even after your current body dies of old age."

"There's no point to me sticking around if you're gone."

"Now how is that any different than what I did?" She pouts.

"I said of old age. I'll have led a full life by that point."

"But..." He rolls towards her and places a finger over her lips.

"I love you. And you promised."

"Fine." The one word falls like a swear from her lips.

TBC...

A/N: The story is finished and onto editing. I will try to post it all as soon as possible.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: The charcters are not mine, I just play with them for a while.

A week passes before the admiral and president convene again to discuss the fleets' findings of Leoben's star chart interpretations. They call him alone into the wardroom to debrief.

"Mr. Conoy." The president begins.

"Leoben." He insists with a small smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. The president takes a deep breath before beginning again.

"Leoben." She starts, having difficulty calling the cylon by his given name. "We've reviewed your findings and our theologians found sound reason within your path. Unfortunately our scientists did not agree. Currently they are bickering amongst themselves about who is right. Neither group knows that the information came from you." The president pauses, thinking about her next phrase carefully. "We would like you to tell them that it is your pathway that you discovered by studying the ancient texts." She watches his response carefully. His face doesn't change overly but the lines around the edges tighten as if he is expecting a fight already.

"Why, if I may ask Madame President, would you do that? Surely that would lead to both sides finding this path unworthy."

"No, I don't think they would. The scientists feel a little guilty since it was their concepts that led to the possibility of cylons while the theologians believe that everything happens for a reason."

"You're hoping to unite them?" He asks.

"Of course." She says.

"What if this deepens the divide? What then?"

"Time for plan B." She says with a slight smile.

"And I'm sure I don't get to know plan B."

"Mr. Conoy, Leoben. You are a deadly machine in love with one of our best pilots but you are still a machine. You are still hooked up to the mother board as it were so no you don't get to know plan B."

Leoben inclines his head towards Admiral Adama. "And what do you think of this plan?"

"It doesn't matter what I think; it matters that I back the president." He says tightly. Leoben knew he'd hit a nerve. "Will you do what is asked?" The Admiral asks directly.

"Yes."

"Good." The president says. "You will be transported to the Prometheus tomorrow."

"Will Kara be coming?"

"Captain Thrace has responsibilities here." The Admiral states with a frown of puzzlement.

"Understood, sir." He looks at the Admiral gravely, which illicit a deeper frown.

"Mr. Conoy, do you have something else to add?" The Admiral asks.

"Sir, it's just that my wife has had some difficulty being away from me since we returned from when she was kidnapped and taken to the basestar."

"I understand your concern, but she is a colonial officer. She will come to terms with leaving you alone." The Admiral says with finality.

As predicted Kara does not take the news that her husband will be moved off of Galactica without her. She immediately goes to the admiral and finds herself waiting outside his private quarters for almost an hour. She realizes he is punishing her for wanting to speak to him about the decision not to include her in Leoben's military detail.

"Captain Thrace, security duty is well below your pay grade. You are a viper jock so start acting like one. Pass your psyche eval and get your lazy ass back in a cockpit." The Admiral sets his jaw after Kara explained her unease at having Leoben off ship without her. "We need you elsewhere anyways." When Kara looks at him puzzled he continues. "We've made contact with the cylons. They've agreed to meet with you."

"What if they try to hold me hostage again, sir?" She asks bluntly.

"They are sending one of each of their models to Galactica, while you are sent to a base star with a security detail. If you aren't returned in time, the cylons will be tortured."

"This plan just sounds better and better, sir. Are you sure I'm the person for the job?"

"I am positive about that one. Do I trust them? No. But I do trust that they don't want to harm you and that they don't want to start the war again when they're so close to having peace for the first time years."

"Can I at least request someone for my security sir?" Kara asks as her brow furrows even further as she thinks about whom doesn't hate her on Galactica for being with a cylon. The admiral gives Kara a hard stare. "I'd like Helo to come with me."

"Capt Agathon has duty protecting your husband. But I will put Lee with you." He says watching her reaction. Kara relaxes only fractionally at the news.

"Alright sir. I'll go." She turns to leave. "Could I ask the brilliant military minds to come up with a backup plan should torturing the cylons not make the basestar give me back?"

"We have other plans Kara. Don't worry." The admiral looks up at Kara from his ledger. "You're dismissed. And I meant what I said about passing your eval." He says waving his hand at her.

Kara exits the admiral's quarters and heads out on her CIC duty. Its hours before she can tell Leoben what she'd discussed with the admiral and it makes her short tempered. The crew stays clear of Starbuck on her way to the mess and then finally onto her quarters.

Leoben sits on the bed reviewing the star charts when Kara enters as he has every night since they'd given him his assignment to settle the disputed between the scientist and the theologians. He looks up briefly as Kara enters before returning to his charts.

"Something bothering you?" Kara asks as she sits in the only chair in their small quarters.

"Always, but look at this." He shows her the scrolls of Pythia. Kara reads the words to herself before looking at the star chart. "This is our trajectory." He says tracing his fingers along the bright plots of stars. "But this _was_ the pathway according to Pythia." He traces a darker pathway towards a singular bright spot. "I think that is the nebula described in Pythia."

"What about the dying leader?" She asks leaning forward in her chair.

"It could be any of us. Technically everyone is dying if you really think about it." He says absentmindedly.

"Do you have a plan?" She asks.

"Do you?"

"Not getting me killed is right up there." She says looking away from him.

"Me too." He grins back at her.

"Seriously?" She asks looking back at him, he nods. "My plan is to stay as far away from Cavil as possible and hope the rest are willing to follow you and I. But first I have to pass the psych eval." She says kicking her toe against the bed frame.

"I know you can. You just have to talk to him. Pretend it's me." He says encouraging the most stubborn woman he'd ever met. She looks him in the eye and smiles at that comment. It'd taken so long for him to get her to open up to him. But Tantum wasn't nearly as distracting as Leoben, which made it difficult for Kara to pretend he was anything but what he was: a psychologist. Kara sighs and nods morosely.

"I know I can. It's just difficult. And I don't want _him_ knowing all this stuff about me even if there is that doctor patient thing you always harped on me about."

"I know but won't you feel better when you can get back in a viper?" He asks leaning forward as well, reading her face closely. Hope flashes briefly before fear. His hands cover hers and he squeezes her fingers briefly before turning to fold up his charts.

"Alright fine. I'll tell "Pops" all about how I _feel_." Kara says with as much venom as she can. Leoben snakes a hand around Kara's waist and draws her down to join him on the bed. He tickles her for her comment causing Kara to twist and flail about trying to maneuver herself so Leoben is on the receiving end of the tickling.

Two days later…

"Come on Kara, you just have one more session to go before you can get back in the cockpit." Tantum encourages her. She scowls at him as the tears continue to fall down her face. _Frak I hate crying!_ Kara's brain screams. "But you have to continue with what you were just saying. You can't retreat now."

"Fine." She spits out. "I wanted to die back on the base star and it scares me to go back there, even if it will save humanity." She huffs out crossing her arms and sitting back in the chair waiting for Tantum's next barrage of questions.

"Why wouldn't you want to help save humanity?" He asks evenly. That was one of the largest problems Kara had with psychologist is that there wasn't any emotion in any of their questioning which made Kara feel like a specimen rather than a human relating to another human.

"What are you afraid of?" She asks angrily. Tantum looks taken aback by the question.

"We're not here to talk about me."

"Well until you answer that question, we're not going any further." She says tightly.

Four hours later, they're still having a show down of wills as Tantum has asked the same "Why wouldn't you want to help save humanity?" bit and Kara repeating her question. Finally Tantum gets up to leave.

"You're not leaving until you answer my question major." She says.

"_Captain_ Thrace," Tantum says with a lot of venom for a man trained not to let his emotions get the best of him. "I will leave when I am damn well ready to leave."

"Fine." She says. "But until you admit that there are things that scare you and that you can be human, I'm not answering any more questions. How do you think Admiral Adama and the President will take the news that we can't communicate with the cylons because you're unwilling to answer a few similar questions about yourself?"

After a few minutes of silence Tantum broke the silence. "Fine, captain. I am afraid we will never find a home, which is why your particular threat was so effective on getting me to talk about anything I personally feel. Happy now?"

"Absolutely." Kara said nodding. "More than just the base star that scares me, the cylons scare me in general. The fact that I'm married to one doesn't diminish how I feel towards them. How, in the name of the gods, do you talk to someone you're afraid of and hate as much as I do?"

"Practice, captain. Lots of practice."

"That's your recommendation? Practice?"

"Yes Starbuck it is and the sooner the better." He picks up a piece of paper and signs it. "You're cleared for flight; now get out of here before I change my mind."

Kara didn't have to be asked twice before she was out the door and heading to Lee's office. She thought better of that and headed to the admirals quarters first. The marine showed her in.

"What'd ya hear Starbuck?" The admiral asked with a slightly amused smirk on his face.

"I've been cleared for flight sir."

"So I heard." He motioned for her to join him on the couch. "What is your plan with dealing with the cylons?" He asked directly.

"Sir, I have no idea. I would like to discuss the terms that you and the president would like me to review before heading over."

"Of course. I will call Madam President as soon as you leave to schedule a meeting. Any other concerns?" The admiral took his glass off and rubbed his face while Kara pondered the question.

"Sir, permission to speak freely?" Kara asked turning her body towards the admiral.

"Granted"

"Do you believe I am the right person to be doing this? Don't you think Athena, with her history, would be better?" Kara asked in almost a pleading tone. The admiral smiled at the question.

"I send my best people to where they are needed. We need you to do this. Athena has rejected her own culture, her own people to remain here with Helo and Hera. No, Kara, I think we have exactly the correct person for the job. Especially since they have an obsession with their hybrids decrying that you will lead all of us to earth." Kara opened her mouth to speak but was silenced by the look Admiral Adama issued her. "You are the one Kara. Whether it is truly prophecy or merely coincidence, you are the best for the job. Now, Leoben I think leaves at 1600 hours for the Prometheus. He might want to see you before he leaves." He tilted his head slightly, dismissing his best pilot in the best way possible; distraction.

Kara moved through the corridors slowly, thinking about what she would say to the demands the cylons no doubted had for their negotiations. She moved through the hall ways not paying attention to where she was going and ended up finally getting back to her quarters just as Leoben was being escorted to the hangar bay.

"Hey." She said falling in step with her husband. "Sorry, had to crack Tantum." She said shrugging her shoulders. Leoben smiled sidelong at his wife.

"Good."

"Excited?" She asked as they moved through the corridors. The more people they encountered the more nervous Kara got. She unbuttoned her holster as they walked.

"More worried." He said motioning with his head towards her twitchy gun hand. Kara smiled at the expression. It was the one he always had when Starbuck came out to play.

"Helo will take good care of you."

"Or she'll leave my wife a widow." Helo called from behind them joining the parade of people down to the hangar. "Won't you?"

"Naw, I'll just make sure you can never father any more children."

"Wow, you're harsher than I thought." Helo said adjusting his bullet proof vest before moving to take Leoben's restraints off. "The admiral extends his graces and allows you to move without these." Helo said holding up the shackles. "Provided there aren't any incidence and you keep your hands to yourself." Leoben and Kara both raised their eyebrows at the last part of the comment. "Ok, well except with Kara." Helo said stepping away from the couple so they could say goodbye.

Kara launched herself at Leoben and hugged him as though it might be the last time ever; and for all they both knew it might be. The cylons might decide the treaty wasn't worth it and hold Kara hostage once again and the theologians and scientists may very well riot when they see who is to determine the path.

"I'll see you soon." He whispered into her hair.

"Absolutely." Kara said pulling away and watching Leoben and Helo disappear into the raptor.

TBC...


	22. Chapter 22

Thank-you for the reviews! (They reminded me that I hadn't *quite* finished putting the whole story up, sorry about that!) Well we're almost at the end. At least for now. I could write on this story forever! Hope you enjoy!

I do not own any rights to the characters from Battlestar.

Sixteen days later…

Kara paced the quarters of the basestar. Her guards had been returned to Galactica. It was her fourth day there without contact. She was beginning to have panic attacks when finally one of the centurions came to escort her elsewhere on the ship. She had spent the better part of the first two days looking at stellar cartography, trying to discern any pattern that might be present in the scrolls of Pythia. She did find a few markers mentioned in the book that the cylons had mapped but the exact location still eluded her. Another problem she'd run into was beginning to have dreams about the cylons, other than her husband.

Kara stepped into a large chamber where there was a table with every model of cylon present. She was escorted to the seat in the center of the room, much like going in front of the admiral. They stared at her for a few minutes, while Kara tried not to show her hatred in her body language.

"Capt. Thrace." One of the sixes began. "How are you? Did you find your quarters adequate?"

"Yes, I did Six. Thank-you." Kara said, feeling the bile rise as she called the blond cylon by a name, even if it was her designation. "I also found the computer records very helpful."

"Have you been able to piece any more together with our files?" One of the eights asked, leaning forward.

"I have found two more markers. One should be the Eye of Jupiter. The issue I have with the Eye is it doesn't seem to have any markers after that. It's as if it is the end of the line, but it is in known space, which I just cannot seem to reconcile." Kara sighs heavily before continuing. "But this is not what I have come to discuss."

"Then by all means, enlighten us about why you are here and seven of our brethren are with the fleet."

"As you are aware, I made a deal with the ones for my release. It's not something I'm very proud of but I could no longer watch my husband die over and over and over. That deal was to transmit the fleet's jump coordinates before each jump, allowing you to come with us on our travels."

"We are aware, as we have been receiving those transmissions." One of the fours said impatiently.

"Let her speak, she has a point for setting up the story." One of the twos said kindly and motioned for Kara to continue, without looking at her. Kara nodded and continued.

"The admiral and president are aware that I am transmitting those coordinates." She said directly.

"And they allowed you to send them?" One of the Ones asked astonished.

"Yes." Kara nodded before continuing. "That is why I am here. They are hoping that not only can I negotiate a truce, not just an armistice, but that we can combine our resources to find Earth." The room was quiet for a long moment before the silence was interrupted.

"Human trickery." The One said.

"No." Kara said leaning forward. "We do not want to be at war. Humans did atrocious things to the cylons in the past and you retaliated. Neither of us can afford this war."

"So why did they send you, instead of the Admiral and President?" The two asked smiling with Leoben's smile. Kara shivered slightly before answering.

"Because I am still married to a cylon. Because to love him, I've had to get past the hatred and the fear that the cylons would unleash another nuclear war on Earth if we ever find it."

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you overcome that?" The two pushed further.

"One day at a time." Kara breathed. "Anyways. I do not expect you to have an answer at this very moment, but I would like you consider that we both desire peace and this is the first step towards that goal; talking, conversing, communicating. The past is the past; we must both learn from our mistakes and move forward together."

"Do you believe any of what you have said Capt. Thrace?" The One asked. "After watching us murder your husband on numerous occasions, can you really tell me that you're ok with moving forward with a treaty?"

"Maybe not all of it but I don't want to grow old on a battlestar. I do not want to watch the parents and children of Galactica grow old in space, with the children never learning what sunshine looks like. Or the taste of rain. Or having a true temple to worship at. I want a home."

"Very good point." Six commented before looking around at her counterparts. "We will discuss this and contact you, on Galactica, when we have made a decision." Kara takes her cue and exits heading towards the hanger bay, where her raptor is waiting.

Kara returned to duty after debriefing with the Admiral and President. Neither of the two liked the overall reaction but the Admiral had commented that at least they'd released Kara and that it was a sign of forward movement.

Kara's CAP took the rest of the night and before she knew it she was crawling into bed alone once again. She vowed to ask for a progress report of how Leoben and Helo were doing.

Fourteen days previous, on the Prometheus

"You cannot expect us to just sit here and listen to this drabble." One of the more prominent scientists interrupted Leoben for the third or fourth time. Leoben smiled patiently and waited for another argument to erupted, when it didn't he continued.

"The scrolls of Pythia have set forth the path and we have argued about the path. I do not think arguing will get us anywhere. We should move to systematically investigate each of the markers in the path and explore the area a little and regroup." Leoben continued. He had presented his findings, which most tried to hide that they actually found the research interesting and valid. His research suggested that they were much closer to Earth than any of them had thought.

"And where would we jump to first then?" One of the older theologians asked.

"Here." Leoben pointed to the closest jump coordinates. "The shorter the jumps the easier this plan will be to get commitment from the fleet. The scrolls do not indicate that there is an order to interpreting the markers."

"I would disagree with that statement but nor does it clearly state which marker would be the first to investigate either." The same elder states looking across the table to the cylon.

"Then do we have an agreement?" Helo interrupts. He cared about the fate of the fleet but not so much the details of how this occurred and he wanted to return to his wife and child.

"We have an agreement but I would like to discuss the scrolls further with this cylon." The elder asks. "The path is set but the interpretations are not. Each group will no doubt have their own conclusions, which will throw us together once again. I would like a chance to pick this cylons brain before we are thrust together again, to understand where he is coming from and what motivates him in this quest to help us locate Earth."

Leoben looks at Helo who smirks. "Fine we can stay, but you know she'll kill me if we stay too long don't you? Me, not you." Helo sighs as he agrees to stay longer. Leoben grins as the scientists and other theologians exit and the elder comes to sit closer to him but not too close.

"It is fascinating that you would help us find the pathway to Earth. More than interesting is the fact that you seem to know more about our religion than the majority of the people that worship it."

Leoben laughed a little before answering the question. "I was raised human sir. I didn't know I was a cylon until about a year ago. I studied and worshipped all of my life. My wife and I even attended a retreat together. Plus I've been under house arrest for the past few months; I've read the scrolls so many times I can almost read them to you."

"Is it your desire to stay with your wife that leads you down this path to helping us?" The elder asked perplexed.

"No sir. If she wasn't with me I would still be searching for Earth, just as you are. It is the last vestige of hope that we have in the galaxy and I for one happen to feel that it is a real, tangible place that we will be able to find together."

"You are so optimistic." The elder said in awe. "Especially for someone under house arrest and hated just about everywhere you go."

"I'm not hated. Not me personally. My kind is hated but since I was human and still feel human it is not me that is hated, I just become the symbol for a persons hate. If they were to speak to me, they would know that I couldn't possibly condone the actions of the others."

"You seem wise beyond your years." The elder responded.

"I was a physiologist on Caprica before the war."

"Ah, that is where the infinite patience comes from."

"Actually most of that comes from my wife. If you'd ever seen her in a mood, you'd understand where the patience comes from."

"Well if you'll excuse me I think we'd best go brief the Admiral and President. They will no doubted want to start with this path forward immediately."

Leoben stays sitting with Helo as another marine goes to ask for orders. Helo had adjusted to the news of his partner being a cylon much faster than Kara did. Of course it helped that they had a child together and that Leoben and Kara had paved the way for better treatment within the fleet.

"How is Hera doing?" Leoben asked turning to Helo.

"She's good. Just starting to eat solid foods; tried pasta last night, she seemed to like that." Helo stood up and stretched.

"She is amazing."

"She is. Are you and Kara thinking of having kids?"

"I don't think so. Kara doesn't seem to want them."

"She could change her mind." Helo offered as he saw the despair cross Leoben's face.

"It is hers to change, not mine to change. Either way I have Kara and that is all I truly care about."

"Sir." The marine returned with orders. When Helo returned he looked a little disappointed. "We are to stay here until we reach the next marker and help study it."

"I'm sorry Helo." Leoben said concerned.

"It's ok. They're going to send Kara over for a while to guard you once she returns from her missions, and I think Lee even volunteered to help." Leoben's eyes widened a bit at the last comment.

"Good. I'm glad no one will be stuck with babysitting too long." Leoben joked.

Fifteen markers later

Kara sat up next to Leoben. They had just returned to the communal bunk room on the Prometheus after arguing where the next marker was. The jumps had proven more difficult by the fact that the fleet needed food and water at a nearly constant rate. This slowed the process to take over a year to get to the Eye of Jupiter. Kara could feel its pull as she stood on the Prometheus Bridge each morning before Leoben would drag her to the meetings.

This morning was no different, except that Kara and Leoben would be leaving for the basestar for a few days rather than sit and squabble about whether science or faith were the paths. Kara cared immensely for her faith and argued the majority of the theologians points but was swayed every now and again to take the scientists side.

Compared to the Prometheus, which was teaming with families and humans almost to the point of overflowing, the basestar was blissfully quiet as the two stepped on board. It was time for Kara's post jump debriefing of the cylons. This proved to be an arduous process since they to wanted say about where the fleet was headed. Fortunately they never agreed on where the fleet should be heading, leaving Kara only human's to squabble with.

Today was no different and Kara and Leoben spent hours trying to convey the newest discoveries among the humans with several long winded interruptions. About 4 hours into the debriefing an alarm went off.

"What is that?" Kara asked.

"That is our drais going off but Galactica is saying they didn't launch alert fighters." One of the sixes commented as she looked down at the tactical read out.

"Strange." Kara said. They all crowded around the observation deck to look out at the incoming viper. The base star was closest and easily disabled the singular fighter. Galactica was continually squawking to not intervene but the viper was targeting the basestar and the raiders had responded without hesitation.

Kara watched in horror as the viper was escorted into the basestar, all the while knowing without a doubt who they would find inside the cockpit.

"You ok?" Leoben asked, standing behind her close enough to touch but afraid to.

"We'll see. Depends on what we find inside the cockpit." Kara said, turning to face Leoben.

"Shall we?" He said quite formally. She nodded slightly before they made their way down to the docking bay. For Kara those few minutes felt like days. And by the time they reached the docking bay the viper was surrounded with centurions and flesh toned cylons. One of the twos was climbing up a ladder to pop the cock pit.

When the two finally managed to pop the mangled cock pit, he looked down at the singular passenger and then across the bay towards where Kara stood with Leoben's arms around her shoulders.

"Who is it?" One of the one's asked.

"Her." The two pointed across the bay to Kara who was already moving towards the viper. She saw the markings of her own Mark II as she climbed the footholds without thought and came face to face with herself. The other Kara was currently unconscious for the moment.

"What the frak?" She said loudly as she came too.

"Calm down." Kara said rolling her eyes. Other Kara reached for her side arm to only find it pointed at herself.

"Where am I?" She asked a little more quietly.

"I'm not really sure I can answer that. Currently you're on the flag ship base star."

"Well yeah but why?"

"I think we should get you to Galactica before we answer that."

"Are you going to keep me at gun point the entire time?" Other Kara asks sarcastically. Kara snorts and turns to toss the gun down to her Leoben and climbs down the footholds. Other Kara follows cautiously after as she stares at the legion of centurions and smattering of skinned cylons. Other Kara falls into step with Kara as they approach what Kara considers the CIC of the basestar, not that the cylons called it the CIC. Leoben followed closely behind the pair looking from his wife to the Other Kara with an amused grin.

"Is this what you feel like all of the time?" Kara asked Leoben noting his mischievous smile.

"Little bit." He didn't notice the Other Kara had stopped to stare at Kara and Leoben like they had completely lost it and Leoben ended up bumping into Other Kara.

"Oh, sorry." He said right before Other Kara swung around and kneed him in the groin. Kara's firearm was out before she really even thought about it and pointed at the new look-alike.

"What the frak!" She yelled at the Other Kara.

"What is wrong with that cylon? What is his fascination with me? Us? Whatever pronoun that applies here."

"You ok?" Kara asks Leoben putting her gun away and moving towards the man crouching on the floor. Kara looks worried until she realizes Leoben in laughing.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He says standing up. He moves up to Kara and places an arm around her. She smiles up at him and laughs a little at the oddity of the situation.

"Kara, this is Leoben. My husband." Other Kara stares with her mouth open for a few heart beats before regaining herself.

"Now I know why you think we need to contact Galactica." She sighs as Kara resumes their walk towards the CIC. "How do you let it touch you?"

"_He_ is my husband, so watch what you say." Kara enters the CIC and places her hand on the platform to access the computer interface. "It's really simple: I love him. He loves me. It doesn't matter that he's a cylon. Much."

"When did it matter?" Other Kara asked watching as Kara called Galactica. Kara looked over at Leoben who nodded slightly as he scratched his stubble face.

"When they made me watch as they killed him over 20 times to try to get me to help them find the path to Earth."

"Why would that make you cooperate?" She looked puzzled rather than the horror Kara felt when relating that particular story.

"As much as they try, they still do not understand us." Kara sighed before continuing. "They believed that I would buckle under the pressure of not wanting to see Leoben killed again and again. In the end I almost shot myself to free us from them and then I was chosen as the ambassador after some intense psycho therapy."

"Wow."

"What did he do to you wherever you came from?"

"Well lets see: First I interrogated him, he nearly strangled me, I almost drowned him and then the president flushed him out of an air lock. Second he kidnapped me on New Caprica." Other Kara was counting the encounters with Leoben on her hand when Kara interrupted.

"Wait, what's New Caprica?"

"A planet we tried to colonize before the cylons came and took it over and enslaved us." Other Kara said almost dismissively as they waited for Galactica to respond. "Anyways. He kidnapped me," She motioned to Leoben, "And tried to get me to realize my destiny."

"How long were you imprisoned?"

"About a year I think. I'm not entirely sure. But I killed him about 11 times and he just kept coming back. And most recently he appeared in my dreams and led me through a vortex that took me past earth and now I'm here with you."

"No wonder you looked at me strangely." Kara looked at the console and pressed the buttons as Galactica actual's call came through.

"Admiral." Kara stated.

"Captain, you were given explicit orders not to intercept."

"Understood sir, the raiders were launched before we even realized someone had jumped into our space." Kara spoke into the phone.

"Well captain, report." The admiral said in a clipped tone.

"Sir, the Mark II landed in the docking bay and we have pulled the survivor from the hatch."

"Any one we know solider?"

"Yes sir. It's me sir." Kara said.

"Repeat Basestar."

"Sir it's me. It's my Viper, my com badges, my hair but not my scars." Kara said as she looked into Other Kara's haunted eyes.

"Captain, bring you and yourself to Galactica. Immediately. Galactica out." The gruff voice sounded even more so when intoned with annoyance and concern.

Kara sighed heavily as she turned to Other Kara and Leoben. Leoben shrugged and started off towards their accommodations, "I'll grab our stuff." He said almost idly as he vanished behind the numerous bulkheads.

"You're going to let him come with us? More importantly, Adama is going to let you?" Other Kara stared after the cylon in shock.

"It's admiral in this universe. And yes the admiral allows Leoben to accompany me to Galactica when I am stationed there."

"Wait, you mean you don't live there?"

"No. Currently we are spending half of our time here and half of our time on the Prometheus. We're currently working with the scientist and the theologians to determine the best path forward. Now that you are here I suspect the Admiral would want a report on how you came here by way of Earth, which reminds me we need to download your gun footage and your computer." Kara went to one of the many consoles on the way down to the docking bay and communicated with the hybrid that they needed those two things done immediately.

"This is so very strange." Other Kara said under her breath.

TBC…


	23. Chapter 23

This update is very short, and I apologize for that. The next chapter is the end and it is a bit rushed because well I hate endings in general and I could write on this story line for a lot longer but I'd like it to be finished so my other fics don't suffer. Thanks for following this long and being patient with the long drawn out conclusion!

The next eight hours were spent going over the gun footage, reviewing the differences and how to get Other Kara back to her timeline. There were arguments between the Admiral, president and scientists on whether or not this was possible. After the grueling hours in the wardroom, Kara and Leoben found an area in the lower decks to talk. Other Kara was allowed a room, with a guard since the circumstances were so bizarre and the Admiral was afraid of what the others on Galactica might think.

Other Kara drifted to sleep that night wondering how different her life could have been.

Other Kara stayed aboard Galactica for a little over a week before she was allowed to leave. She tried to escape several different times, feeling the press of the universe as she sat aboard Galactica.

Kara carefully avoided the look-alike in the hopes that she wouldn't confuse the point; there was a way to earth and Other Kara _knew_ how to get there. In fact her gun footage showed precisely how to get there which made everyone very suspicious as the solution was just too easy.

"I don't trust her." Kara said to Leoben over their meal one night after returning from CAP. Any time Kara was within spitting distance of Galactica and not ingrained in serious talks about the path and how to get the fleet to earth Kara was called out on CAP duty.

Leoben looked up from his protein noodle mess and smirked. "You realize what that means right?" He questioned dangerously. Kara frowned at him.

"Yes, it means I don't trust myself." She looked up from her noodles. "No wonder you have such a hard time with me." She winked at him and they smiled at one another. "But the admiral and President are in a trusting mood it would seem. Since they're still trying to get her to her own timeline."

"I don't know if they trust her so much as they'd like to see her gone. If you've noticed, they've kept you and she pretty far apart."

"How do you know it's me?" Kara grinned teasingly at Leoben who rolled his eyes.

"Because the Other Kara wouldn't come within spitting distance of me, even if it was to spit on me." He grimaced remembering how she'd kicked him. It had been funny at the time and in retrospect still was but it'd still hurt. Kara laughed at the memory as it came flooding back.

"Too true." Kara said sitting back and observing the pilots mess. It was the same families and people from the day before. She smiled, knowing this was going to be her life unless the information the Other Kara gave proved to be accurate.

"Shall we?" Leoben asked, as he got up from their table, motioning towards the hall way and eventually their cot on Galactica. Kara smiled, knowing this is just where she wanted to be in that moment.

Months passed; with every available mind pouring over the data Other Kara had supplied the fleet, hoping against hope that it would prove fruitful. In the end the coordinates were set and the entirety of the fleet prayed as they jumped into completely unknown space for the hundredth or so time in the past year.

The fleet held their collective breath as the dradis looked upon the Earth for the first time. Each member of the fleet would have their singular moment of seeing the Earth; from the command deck, the observation deck, a viper, the port hole of their ship or even the first time they set foot on the shore line.

Kara sat in her cockpit, pondering landing her Viper on the planet without Leoben and knew they would fight about that for the remainder of their lives if she decided to take such a stupidly bold step. She pursed her lips and asked Galactica for permission to land.

"Sorry, Starbuck, repeat?" Dee's voice came over the comm..

"Permission to return to Galactica?" She asked again.

"You're the only one asking for that permission. Permission granted."

"Yeah well I know a particularly cantankerous cylon waiting for me in the observation deck that would fight about this for the rest of our collective lives if I took this bird down without him." She smirked as she angled towards Galactica.

TCB...


End file.
